Constrained ATPG for functional RTL circuits using F-Scan

Abstract

In this paper, we present an approach to constrained automatic test pattern generation (ATPG) for functional circuits at register-transfer level (RTL) with the help of a design-for-testability (DFT) technique called F-scan. The DFT method optimally utilizes existing functional elements and paths for test, thus it effectively reduces the hardware overhead due to test. This is done by arranging all registers in the circuit into F-scan-paths and augmenting necessary circuitry at RTL. After DFT, we create the constraint test generation model of the circuit based on the test environment obtained from the information of F-scan-paths. With this approach, only the applicable test vectors to the F-scan-paths can be generated and test application time is kept at the minimum. The comparison of F-scan with the performance of gate-level full scan design is shown through the experimental results.