A better ATPG algorithm and its design principles
Li-C. Wang, T.W. Williams, M. Ray Mercer · 2002
The traditional goal of an ATPG algorithm is to achieve a high fault coverage by producing a small number of tests. However, since usually a high fault coverage does not imply a high defect coverage, such an objective can mislead us to overtrust an ATPG method which is optimal for faults but inefficient for defects. The paper presents several new principles to design an ATPG algorithm for solve this problem. The new principles direct an ATPG algorithm to improve its efficiency and reliability for detecting the non target defects through the target faults. Theory and experiments are presented to demonstrate the superiority of the new principles and the new test generation algorithm.