Test Generation for Combinational Logic Circuits Using Neural Networks

신경회로망을 이용한 조합 논리회로의 테스트 생성

This paper proposes a new test pattern generation methodology for combinational logic circuits using neural networks based on a modular structure. The CUT (Circuit Under Test) is described in our gate level hardware description language. By conferring neural database, the CUT is compiled to an ATPG (Automatic Test Pattern Generation) neural network. Each logic gate in CUT is represented as a discrete Hopfield network. Such a neual network is called a gate module in this paper. All the gate modules for a CUT form an ATPG neural network by connecting each module through message passing paths by which the states of modules are transferred to their adjacent modules. A fault is injected by setting the activation values of some neurons at given values and by invalidating connections between some gate modules. A test pattern for an injected fault is obtained when all gate modules in the ATPG neural network are stabilized through evolution and mutual interactions. The proposed methodology is efficient for test generation, known to be NP-complete, through its massive paralelism. Some results on combinational logic circuits confirm the feasibility of the proposed methodology.