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    Scan Chains

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    nehasoni
    Scan chains are used in scan-based circuit designs to shift test data into and out of the circuit. A scan chain is formed by connecting the output of flip-flops in a chain, with the input of the first flip-flop connected to a scan-in pin and the output of the last flip-flop connected to a scan-out pin. Normal flip-flops are modified to include a scan input that is selected using a scan-enable signal to make the flip-flops controllable and observable through scan testing. The length of scan chains is balanced to distribute flip-flops evenly among chains to minimize the number of clock cycles needed for testing.

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    Scan Chains

    Uploaded by

    nehasoni
    199 views3 pages
    Scan chains are used in scan-based circuit designs to shift test data into and out of the circuit. A scan chain is formed by connecting the output of flip-flops in a chain, with the input of the first flip-flop connected to a scan-in pin and the output of the last flip-flop connected to a scan-out pin. Normal flip-flops are modified to include a scan input that is selected using a scan-enable signal to make the flip-flops controllable and observable through scan testing. The length of scan chains is balanced to distribute flip-flops evenly among chains to minimize the number of clock cycles needed for testing.

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    scan chains

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    Scan chains are used in scan-based circuit designs to shift test data into and out of the circuit. A scan chain is formed by connecting the output of flip-flops in a chain, with the input of the first flip-flop connected to a scan-in pin and the output of the last flip-flop connected to a scan-out pin. Normal flip-flops are modified to include a scan input that is selected using a scan-enable signal to make the flip-flops controllable and observable through scan testing. The length of scan chains is balanced to distribute flip-flops evenly among chains to minimize the number of clock cycles needed for testing.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as docx, pdf, or txt
    199 views3 pages

    Scan Chains

    Uploaded by

    nehasoni
    Scan chains are used in scan-based circuit designs to shift test data into and out of the circuit. A scan chain is formed by connecting the output of flip-flops in a chain, with the input of the first flip-flop connected to a scan-in pin and the output of the last flip-flop connected to a scan-out pin. Normal flip-flops are modified to include a scan input that is selected using a scan-enable signal to make the flip-flops controllable and observable through scan testing. The length of scan chains is balanced to distribute flip-flops evenly among chains to minimize the number of clock cycles needed for testing.

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    Scan chains – the backbone of DFT

    What are scan chains: Scan chains are the elements in scan-based designs that are
    used to shift-in and shift-out test data. A scan chain is formed by a number of flops
    connected back to back in a chain with the output of one flop connected to another. The
    input of first flop is connected to the input pin of the chip (called scan-in) from where
    scan data is fed. The output of the last flop is connected to the output pin of the chip
    (called scan-out) which is used to take the shifted data out. The figure below shows a
    scan chain.

    A scan chain

    Purpose of scan chains: As said above, scan chains are inserted into designs to shift
    the test data into the chip and out of the chip. This is done in order to make every point
    in the chip controllable and observable as discussed below.

    How normal flop is transformed into a scan flop: The flops in the design have to be
    modified in order to be put in the scan chains. To do so, the normal input (D) of the flip-
    flop has to be multiplexed with the scan input. A signal called scan-enable is used to
    control which input will propagate to the output.

    Figure showing transition of a normal flop to scan flop

    If scan-enable = 0, data at D pin of the flop will propagate to Q at the next active edge
    If scan-enable= 1, data present at scan-in input will propagate to Q at the next active
    edge

    Scan terminology: Before we talk further, it will be useful to know some signals used in
    scan chains which are as follows:
     Scan-in: Input to the flop/scan-chain that is used to provide scan data into it
     Scan-out: Output from flop/scan-chain that provides the scanned data to the next
    flop/output
     Scan-enable: Input to the flop that controls whether scan_in data or functional
    data will propagate to output

    Purpose of testing using scan: Scan testing is carried out for various reasons, two most
    prominent of them are:
     To test stuck-at faults in manufactured devices
     To test the paths in the manufactured devices for delay; i.e. to test whether each
    path is working at functional frequency or not
    How a scan chain functions: The fundamental goal of scan chains is to make each
    node in the circuit controllable and observable through limited number of patterns by
    providing a bypass path to each flip-flop. Basically, it follows these steps:
    1. Assert scan_enable (make it high) so as to enable (SI -> Q) path for each
    flop
    2. Keep shifting in the scan data until the intended values at intended nodes
    are reached
    3. De-assert scan_enable (for one pulse of clock in case of stuck-at testing
    and two or more cycles in case of transition testing) to enable D->Q path so that
    the combinational cloud output can be captured at the next clock edge.
    4. Again assert scan_enable and shift out the data through scan_out
    The PDF (How does scan work) provides a very good explanation to how scan chains
    function.

    How Chain length is decided: By chain length, we mean the number of flip-flops in a
    single scan chain. Larger the chain length, more the number of cycles required to shift
    the data in and out. However, considering the number of flops remains same, smaller
    chain length means more number of input/output ports is needed as scan_in and
    scan_out ports. As

    Number of ports required = 2 X Number of scan chains

    Since for each scan chain, scan_in and scan_out port is needed. Also,

    Number of cycles required to run a pattern = Length of largest scan chain


    in design
    Suppose, there are 10000 flops in the design and there are 6 ports available as
    input/output. This means we can make (6/2=) 3 chains. If we make scan chains of 9000,
    100 and 900 flops, it will be inefficient as 9000 cycles will be required to shift the data in
    and out. We need to distribute flops in scan chains almost equally. If we make chain
    lengths as 3300, 3400 and 3300, the number of cycles required is 3400.

    Keeping almost equal number of flops in each scan chain is referred to as chain
    balancing.

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