A description is given of an expert system that helps diagnose failures on VLSI memories. The expert system is intended to be used in the fields of quality assurance and failure analysis. After a discussion of the problem and the definition of the project, the different databases used and the architecture of the expert system are described. Then, the strategy of the system, which depends on the kind of failure diagnosed after a first-level analysis, is explained. Current developments are discussed that are intended to improve the capability of the expert system and depth of diagnosis