A system and method is disclosed for testing integrated circuits that contain memory devices. A plurality of test circuits is created in which each test circuit incorporates a physical fault in a memory bit cell. Each of the test circuits generates a distinct electrical signature that is due to presence of the physical fault in the test circuit. The electrical signatures from the test circuits are compared with a signal from an integrated circuit memory device to determine whether any of the physical faults in the test circuits are present in the integrated circuit memory device.