The push for test in universities

It is noted that the increased use of application-specific integrated circuits in products is increasing the demand for courses in VLSI. It is argued that design for testability should be an integral part of these project courses. The results of an IEEE Computer Society survey of universities teaching VLSI are presented, along with some recommendations for facilitating the process of emphasizing test in curricula. Specifically, it is recommended that VLSI testing in universities be facilitated by having public domain-integrated CAD tools that support automatic test pattern generation and built-in self-test, more textbooks which incorporate design for testability, increased industrial and governmental equipment support, standardized design frames and test fixtures that can be share among projects and organizations, and additional publicity to raise the awareness level for these needs.<<ETX>>