Maximizing ATPG Diagnosis Resolution on Unique Single Failing Devices

Unique single failing device is common for customer returns and reliability failures. When the initial and iterative Automatic Test Pattern Generator (ATPG) could not provide a sufficient diagnostic resolution, it can become quite challenging for the analyst to determine the failure mechanism in an efficient and effective way. Fault isolation could be performed in combination with the diagnosis results but there are cases with mismatch between the results (location, fault type, suspect nets). When the diagnostic resolution is low, the probability for such mismatches are high. This paper proposes an approach to increase the diagnostic resolution by utilizing a high-resolution targeted pattern (HRT) and single shot logic (SSL) patterns. Two cases will be discussed in the paper to highlight this approach and show in detail how it was utilized on actual failing units.