Testability is becoming an increasing concern in the design of present-day VLSI systems because of their higher density and complexity. This is particularly important in the case of arithmetic units, such as adders, which form the core of any processing unit. Techniques like design for testability (DFT) have been implemented, but a methodology for evaluating and selecting a suitable adder has not been developed. We present an exhaustive comparison of adders in terms of performance, area and testability, by formulating a figure of merit, the PLUS factor. The results of this comparison can be extended to evaluate the suitability of an adder for a particular set of design goals and constraints. >
['Rathish Jayabharathi', 'Thomas, Thomas Russell (Rigby, Id)', 'E Earl Swartzlander']
A comparative evaluation of adders based on performance and testability