Testbench Architecture

VLSI Concept · Verification

Someone has to generate inputs and check outputs — automatically.

A testbench wraps the Design Under Test (DUT) with a stimulus generator that drives inputs, and a checker/scoreboard that compares actual outputs against a reference model — flagging mismatches automatically instead of relying on a human staring at waveforms.

Core piecesGenerator → Driver → DUT → Monitor → Scoreboard

Why it mattersModern chips run millions of test vectors; nothing at that scale gets checked by eye.

Common mistakeA checker that's just as buggy as the design it's checking — the reference model needs to be independently written and trusted.

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