skip to main content
OSTI.GOV title logo U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Title: Partial fault dictionary: A new approach for computer-aided fault localization

Conference ·
OSTI ID:260532
;  [1]
  1. Gerhard Mercator Univ., Duisburg (Germany)

The approach described in this paper has been developed to address the computation time and problem size of localization methodologies in VLSI circuits in order to speed up the overall time consumption for fault localization. The reduction of the problem to solve is combined with the idea of the fault dictionary. In a pre-processing phase, a possibly faulty area is derived using the netlist and the actual test results as input data. The result is a set of cones originating from each faulty primary output. In the next step, the best cone is extracted for the fault dictionary methodology according to a heuristic formula. The circuit nodes, which are included in the intersection of the cones, are combined to a fault list. This fault list together with the best cone can be used by the fault simulator to generate a small and manageable fault dictionary related to one faulty output. In connection with additional algorithms for the reduction of stimuli and netlist a partial fault dictionary can be set up. This dictionary is valid only for the given faulty device together with the given and reduced stimuli, but offers important benefits: Practical results show a reduction of simulation time and size of the fault dictionary by factors around 100 or even more, depending on the actual circuit and assumed fault. The list of fault candidates is significantly reduced, and the required number of steps during the process of localization is reduced, too.

OSTI ID:
260532
Report Number(s):
CONF-951156-; ISBN 0-87170-554-0; TRN: IM9632%%174
Resource Relation:
Conference: ISTFA `95: 21. international symposium for testing and failure analysis, Santa Clara, CA (United States), 5-10 Nov 1995; Other Information: PBD: 1995; Related Information: Is Part Of ISTFA `95: Conference proceedings; PB: 381 p.
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English