Cir-Fuzzer: Automated Generation of Diverse Circuit Schematics for EDA Tool Chain Defect Detection

Electronic Design Automation (EDA) tool chain plays a critical role in the design and manufacturing of Printed Circuit Boards (PCBs). Defects in the EDA tool chain can introduce errors into Printed Circuit Board (PCB) designs and manufacturing processes, potentially leading to system failures in these applications. Therefore, verifying the reliability of the EDA tool chain is crucial. In recent years, various approaches have been proposed based on automatically generated circuits to detect defects in the EDA tool chain. However, differential testing is often bottlenecked by two practical limitations of existing circuit schematic generators: limited coverage of structurally expressive and behaviorally diverse schematics, and the lack of functionally matched variants for controlled comparison, which reduces its effectiveness in exposing subtle defects in the EDA tool chain. Addressing these challenges, we present a circuit generator (Cir-Fuzzer) for automatically generating structurally and functionally diverse circuits, as well as functionally equivalent yet structurally varied circuit variants, to detect defects in the EDA tool chain. Specifically, Cir-Fuzzer consists of three components: diversity-enhanced synthesis and optimization component constructs structurally diverse and functionally valid circuits by applying pin-level constraints and eliminating redundant paths, facilitating the generation of realistic and effective test cases for exposing tool chain weaknesses; Functionally Equivalent Circuit (FEC) variant generator introduces slight perturbations into the original schematics without compromising circuit functionality, thereby expanding the circuit transformation space and enhancing the Cir-Fuzzer’s capability to uncover latent defects in the EDA tool chain; differential testing component leverages netlists generated from original circuits and their variants to compare simulation results across simulators, versions, and circuit variants, enabling the detection of inconsistencies and the revelation of hidden defects within the EDA tool chain. Experimental results demonstrate that Cir-Fuzzer outperforms baseline approaches in detecting more tool chain defects and has uncovered 12 real defects, 4 of which were officially confirmed or fixed by vendors.