An efficient testing methodology for embedded flash memories

The market share of portable and loT (Internet of Things) devices has been rapidly growing over the last decade. In parallel the amount of non-volatile memories, especially flash memories, used in such devices has also increased significantly due to their low power consumption and capability of in-field programmability. Therefore, for achieving high production yield the reliability and testability of embedded flash memories is considered as a primary requirement. The conventional March tests that are used for random access memories (RAMs) are not appropriate for testing flash memories, since test operations and requirements in flash memories differ from that in RAMs. In this paper, a comprehensive set of flash memory faults are introduced and an efficient methodology is proposed for detection of those faults.

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