METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR BROADCASTING SCAN PATTERNS IN A SCAN-BASED INTEGRATED CIRCUIT

摘要

A broadcaster (208), system (201) and method for reducing test data volume and test application time in an ATE (automatic test equipment) (202) in a scan-based integrated circuit. The scan-based integrated circuit contains multiple scan chains, each scan chain comprising multiple scan cells coupled in series. The broadcaster (208) is a combinational logic network coupled to an optional virtual scan controller and an optional scan connector. The virtual scan controller controls the operation of the broadcaster (208). The system transmits virtual scan patterns stored in the ATE (202) and generates broadcast scan pattern (219) through the broadcaster for testing manufacturing faults in the scan-based integrated circuit. The number of scan chains that can be supported by the ATE (202) is significantly increased. Methods are further proposed to reorder scan cells in selected scan chains, to generate the broadcast scan patterns and virtual scan patterns, and synthesize the broadcaster and a compactor in the scan-based integrated circuit.