Semiconductor device and semiconductor device testing method

摘要

It is one object of the present invention to eliminate redundant testing steps from an operation for testing the search function of a content addressable memory having a priority encoder. Before testing is conducted, background data that differ from test data are written (step 21). Then, the background data are read (step 22) and are tested (step 23). The address having the lowest priority is designated (step 26). And the test data are written thereto (step 27). Following this, the search operation is performed (step 28) to determine whether test addresses match search addresses (step 29). Then, the address having the second lowest priority is designated (step 26), and the above processing is repeated for all the addresses (step 32).