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Integrated Memory Grouping and Power-Aware MBIST Scheduling for MPSoCs

Authors Koki Asahina , Yasuhiko Nakashima

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Subject Classification

ACM Subject Classification
  • Hardware → Testing with distributed and parallel systems
Keywords
  • MBIST
  • DfT
  • Memory Grouping
  • Power-Aware Scheduling

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Abstract

Memory Built-In Self-Test (MBIST) is a widely adopted technique for testing memory. In modern large-scale SoCs, hundreds to thousands of embedded memories are integrated, and to test them efficiently, methods that group memories and test them in parallel within each group are employed. However, many existing approaches either do not account for test scheduling or rely on evolutionary methods, such as genetic algorithms (GAs), for grouping, which incur high computational costs. In this work, we propose a framework that covers the flow from memory grouping to test scheduling. Taking the specifications and layout information of multiple SRAMs into account, the framework comprises a flexible, fast memory grouping method and a scheduling method that minimizes the total test time under a power-constrained constraint. In the proposed approach, DBSCAN and rectangular partitioning are used to perform fast grouping while suppressing long routing connections, and an LPT-based greedy heuristic is employed to shorten the total test time under constraints on the power limit and the number of simultaneously active BIST controllers. Experimental evaluation using SRAM placement data based on the ASAP7 PDK shows that, compared with existing K-means, Greedy, and GA-based methods, the proposed method reduces the number of groups by up to 48% while achieving approximately 87× speedup in clustering runtime. Furthermore, compared with a commercial Industrial Solution, it reduces the test time by 53%. These results demonstrate that the proposed method provides high scalability and practical effectiveness for MBIST design, even in large-scale MPSoCs with a large number and variety of embedded memories.

Cite As Get BibTex

Koki Asahina and Yasuhiko Nakashima. Integrated Memory Grouping and Power-Aware MBIST Scheduling for MPSoCs. In 7th Workshop on Next Generation Real-Time Embedded Systems (NG-RES 2026). Open Access Series in Informatics (OASIcs), Volume 140, pp. 3:1-3:13, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2026) https://doi.org/10.4230/OASIcs.NG-RES.2026.3

Author Details

Koki Asahina
  • Nara Institute of Science and Technology (NAIST), Ikoma, Japan
Yasuhiko Nakashima
  • Nara Institute of Science and Technology (NAIST), Ikoma, Japan

Funding

  • Asahina, Koki: JST-ALCA-Next Program (Grant Number JPMJAN23F4)
  • Nakashima, Yasuhiko: JST-ALCA-Next Program (Grant Number JPMJAN23F4)

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