Enabling test-time optimized pseudorandom bit stream (PRBS) 2/sup 31/ BER testing on automated test equipment for 10Gbps device

Pseudorandom bit stream (PRBS) testing is critical in network and communication devices to ensure compliant to industry standards. Thus, many new high speed devices have been designed with internal PRBS generator and comparator capability for built-in-self-test. On the other hand, devices that are without this design-for-test feature will have to be tested through conventional methods such as bit error rate (BER) tester due to capability limitation on automated test equipment (ATE). However, this setup is typically expensive and unfriendly in a high volume manufacturing due to long test time, rack and stack setup and dedicated systems. A novel idea was conceived where a pair of programmable PRBS drivers and comparators is embedded into the test loadboard to provide the BER test capability. Coupled with an intelligent BER algorithm, the solution provides a low cost BER test solution that can be implemented in a high volume manufacturing using only a mixed signal ATE.