QC-fill: Quick-and-cool X-filling for multicasting-based scan test

Abstract

This paper presents an X-fill scheme that properly utilizes the don't-care bits in test patterns to simultaneously reduce the test time as well as the test power (including both capture power and shifting power). This scheme, called Quick-and-Cool X-fill (QC-Fill), built upon the multicasting-based scan architecture, further leverages on the merits of previous low-capture-power X-fill methods through techniques like multicasting-driven X-fill and clique stripping. QC-Fill is independent of the automatic test pattern generation patterns and does not require any extra area overhead. Experimental results demonstrate that this scheme strikes a good balance between the seemingly conflicting criteria of low power and test compression. © 2009 IEEE.