BiST model for IC RF-transceiver front-end

In this paper, a BiST technique for an RF transceiver front-end is presented. The test is aimed at spot defects typical of mass production in the CMOS process. The loop-back approach is used to detect faults modeled as resistive breaks or bridges. The resulting impairment in gain, noise figure or selectivity of the RF blocks are considered functional-level faults, and as such are subjected to test with PRBS stimulus and BER as the response at base-band. The extra test circuitry is limited and the on-chip resources are used to set-up the BiST. A model of a GSM transceiver with BiST is investigated to verify the proposed approach.