The Challenges of Implementing an MBIST Interface: A Practical Application

An MBIST interface can enable very high-quality test, which is required by emerging markets such as autonomous automotive, with much less impact to power, performance and area (PPA) than the traditional method of instantiating an MBIST controller. The MBIST interface is able to achieve the improvement in PPA and higher quality test by reusing functional paths to connect to the memories during test. Automation of creating an MBIST controller that understands this way of accessing the memories requires partnership between EDA and the IP provider. This paper discusses practical aspects of implementing an MBIST interface and a 3rd party MBIST controller.