A Cellular Automata based test scheme for TSVs in 3D ICs

A three-dimensional (3D) IC containing multiple dies, connected by through silicon vias (TSV) offers many benefits over current 2D ICs. Reliability and accuracy of 3D integration using thousands of TSVs has to be ensured. However, 3D testing has found to be more difficult compared to that of 2D. This work proposes an elegant test scheme for high speed stuck-at-fault detection in such a system. It ensures a quick decision on the presence of faults in TSVs with just a single comparison. The solution is based on the modular structure of Cellular Automata (CA). A special class of CA referred to as the SACA (single length single cycle attractor cellular automata) has been introduced to achieve a cost-effective realization of the hardware. The SACA based unconventional scheme ensures minimum computation, easy hardware implementation of the test logic, as well as high scalability.