Integrated circuit testing method, program, storing medium, and apparatus Number:7,027,947 from the United States Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) owispatent An ATPG unit permits allocation of a don't care X as a state for activating a propagating path of a failure and, after a change in network, transfers the state from the don't care X to an uncontrol value, thereby activating the propagating path of the failure. Further, the ATPG unit supplies a system clock as a sending clock to a sending FF, gives a change to the network from the sending FF, propagates the change, supplies the system clock as a receiving clock to a receiving FF, and captures the network change, thereby propagating a state for detecting a delay failure to a path between the sending FF and the receiving FF and generating a test pattern when the propagation succeeds.<H Integrated, apparatus, Integrated, circ, 7027947.html, Patent, pto, 7027947

Title: Integrated circuit testing method, program, storing medium, and apparatus

Abstract: An ATPG unit permits allocation of a don't care X as a state for activating a propagating path of a failure and, after a change in network, transfers the state from the don't care X to an uncontrol value, thereby activating the propagating path of the failure. Further, the ATPG unit supplies a system clock as a sending clock to a sending FF, gives a change to the network from the sending FF, propagates the change, supplies the system clock as a receiving clock to a receiving FF, and captures the network change, thereby propagating a state for detecting a delay failure to a path between the sending FF and the receiving FF and generating a test pattern when the propagation succeeds.

Patent Number: 7,027,947 Issued on 04/11/2006 to Maruyama

Inventors: Maruyama; Daisuke (Kawasaki, JP)
Assignee: Fujitsu Limited (Kawasaki, JP)

Appl. No.: 791725

Filed: March 4, 2004

Foreign Application Priority Data


Apr 03, 2003 [JP]			2003-100341

Current U.S. Class: 702/120 ; 714/725

Current International Class: G01R 31/303 (20060101)

Field of Search: 702/57-59,64,108,117,118,119,120,124,126,185,189,188,176,178,146-149,142,145,12,80,92,93,95,96,104,116 714/30,718,724,725,741 324/76.11,534 327/203 340/988-990 701/22,23,25,96

References Cited [Referenced By]

U.S. Patent Documents


6003150	December 1999	Stroud et al.
6065145	May 2000	Bencivenga
6708139	March 2004	Rearick et al.
6708301	March 2004	Ohta et al.
2004/0088627	May 2004	Nishioka et al.
2004/0103352	May 2004	Gupte et al.
2004/0268181	December 2004	Wang et al.

Foreign Patent Documents


08-101258	Apr., 1996	JP
2001-042012	Feb., 2001	JP
2002-131399	May., 2002	JP

Primary Examiner: Hoff; Marc S.
Assistant Examiner: Charioui; Mohamed
Attorney, Agent or Firm: Arent Fox PLLC

Claims

What is claimed is:

1. An integrated circuit testing method comprising: a reading step wherein circuit data is read out by a circuit data reading unit; a path cut step wherein a path cut point is selected from a target circuit and a state is fixed by a path cut countermeasure unit; and an automatic test pattern generating step wherein test data to detect a delay failure with respect to the circuit whose path cut has been finished as a target is generated by an automatic test pattern generation unit, wherein said automatic test pattern generating step comprises: a narrowing step wherein an area including a sending FF group corresponding to failure presumption points, a receiving FF, and further, a preparation FF group that is one-stage precedent to said sending FF group is specified as a processing target circuit by a narrowing processing unit; a failure exciting step wherein states of failure excitation at sending time and receiving time which have an inverting relation such that the state changes from 0 to 1 in a leading failure and changes from 1 to 0 in a trailing failure are allocated to said failure presumption points by a failure exciting unit; a path activating step wherein states at the sending time and the receiving time for activating a propagating path of said failure are allocated to the residual preparation FFs and sending FFs by a failure propagating state setting unit; and a failure propagating step wherein, by an automatic test pattern generation control unit, a system clock is supplied as a sending clock to said sending FF, a change is given to a network from the sending FF and propagated, the system clock is supplied as a receiving clock to said receiving FF, and the network change is captured, thereby propagating a state for detecting the delay failure to a path between the sending FF and the receiving FF and generating a test pattern when the propagation succeeds, and further, in said path activating step, an allocation of a don't care X is permitted as a state for activating the propagating path of the failure, and in said failure propagating step, after the change in network, the state is transferred from the don't care X to an uncontrol value, thereby activating the propagating path of the failure.

2. A method according to claim 1, wherein in said path cut step, in a gate input of driving the path cut point, a control value of a gate is given at the sending time and the receiving time and the state is fixed, or the uncontrol value of the gate is given to all gate inputs at the sending time and the receiving time and the state of said path cut point is fixed by allocating a fixed state "from 0 to 0" or "from 1 to 1".

3. A method according to claim 2, wherein said path cut step has a fixed state selecting step wherein, with respect to the fixed state "from 0 to 0" or "from 1 to 1" which is allocated to the path cut point, a failure detection impossible number is measured by said automatic test pattern generating step and the fixed state whose failure detection impossible number is small is selected.

4. A method according to claim 2, wherein said path cut step has a hazard-freeing step wherein in the case where a transfer in which a pin input position of the control value changes at the sending time and the receiving time exists among a plurality of input pins of the driver side gates for the path cut point, by adding and allocating the control value at the sending time to at least one input pin to which the control value is given at the receiving time, the hazard-free fixed state is generated for the path cut point.

5. A method according to claim 1, wherein in said narrowing step, as a preparation of said failure exciting step, a narrowing range is marked by back traces of two stages from the failure presumption point to the sending FF group via the receiving FF and from the sending FF group to the preparation FF group, and if both states at the sending time and the receiving time of the network are not the don't care X, the back trace after the network is stopped.

6. A method according to claim 5, wherein in said automatic test pattern generating step, if the detection of the delay failure fails with respect to either the leading delay failure or the trailing delay failure of the same network, the unmarking of the narrowing range which has been marked by the back trace in said narrowing step is not performed but the mark is used as it is, and the test pattern generation is executed by using the other undetected delay failure as a target.

7. A method according to claim 1, wherein said don't care X is a logic value constructing the test pattern which does not exert an influence on a failure detection ratio even if it is replaced with an opposite value.

8. A method according to claim 1, wherein after said failure propagating step is finished, said method comprises: a compaction failure exciting step wherein the don't care X in said path activating step changes to a value opposite to that of the state at the receiving time and the state of the failure excitation is allocated; and a compaction failure propagating step wherein the system clock is supplied as a sending clock to said sending FF, the change is given to the network from the sending FF and propagated, the system clock is supplied as a receiving clock to said receiving FF, and the network change is captured, thereby propagating the state for detecting the delay failure to the path between the sending FF and the receiving FF and generating the test pattern when the propagation succeeds.

9. A method according to claim 1, wherein in said failure exciting step, when a clock-off is allocated to the sending FF at the sending time, an uncontrol value (u) showing that the failure excitation is impossible for a failure value is conditional-implicated in an output of said sending FF at the receiving time, the allocation itself of said uncontrol value (u) is determined that the failure excitation is impossible, and the failure is excluded from targets of the delay failure.

10. A method according to claim 1, wherein when the failure propagation fails in said failure propagating step, among the failures which are presumed into the network from the network in which the failed failure has been presumed to a branch input of a fan-out free area, the failure in which the inverting relation is equal to that of the failed failure and a failure value is equal to a control value of a gate is extracted and excluded as an undetectable failure.

11. A computer-readable storage medium storing a computer-readable program for executing a method of testing an integrated circuit, said method comprising the steps of: a reading step wherein circuit data is read out; a path cut step wherein a path cut point is selected from a target circuit and a state is fixed by a path cut countermeasure unit; and an automatic test pattern generating step wherein test data to detect a delay failure with respect to the circuit whose path cut has been finished as a target is generated, wherein said automatic test pattern generating step allows the computer to execute: a narrowing step wherein an area including a sending FF group corresponding to failure presumption points, a receiving FF, and further, a preparation FF group that is one-stage precedent to said sending FF group is specified as a processing target circuit; a failure exciting step wherein states of failure excitation at sending time and receiving time which have an inverting relation such that the state changes from 0 to 1 in a leading failure and changes from 1 to 0 in a trailing failure are allocated to said failure presumption points; a path activating step wherein states at the sending time and the receiving time for activating a propagating path of said failure are allocated to the residual preparation FFs and sending FFs; and a failure propagating step wherein a system clock is supplied as a sending clock to said sending FF, a change is given to a network from the sending FF and propagated, the system clock is supplied as a receiving clock to said receiving FF, and the network change is captured, thereby propagating a state for detecting the delay failure to a path between the sending FF and the receiving FF and generating a test pattern when the propagation succeeds, and further, in said path activating step, an allocation of a don't care X is permitted as a state for activating the propagating path of the failure, and in said failure propagating step, after the change in network, the state is transferred from the don't care X to an uncontrol value, thereby activating the propagating path of the failure.

12. The computer-readable storage medium according to claim 11, wherein in said path cut step, in a gate input of driving the path cut point, a control value of a gate is given at the sending time and the receiving time and the state is fixed, or the uncontrol value of the gate is given to all gate inputs at the sending time and the receiving time and the state of said path cut point is fixed by allocating a fixed state "from 0 to 0" or "from 1 to 1".

13. The computer-readable storage medium according to claim 12, wherein said path cut step has a fixed state selecting step wherein, with respect to the fixed state "from 0 to 0" or "from 1 to 1" which is allocated to the path cut point, a failure detection impossible number is measured by said automatic test pattern generating step and the fixed state whose failure detection impossible number is small is selected.

14. The computer-readable storage medium according to claim 12, wherein said path cut step has a hazard-freeing step wherein in the case where a transfer in which a pin input position of the control value changes at the sending time and the receiving time exists among a plurality of input pins of the driver side gates for the path cut point, by adding and allocating the control value at the sending time to at least one input pin to which the control value is given at the receiving time, the hazard-free fixed state is generated for the path cut point.

15. The computer-readable storage medium according to claim 11, wherein in said narrowing step, as a preparation of said failure exciting step, a narrowing range is marked by back traces of two stages from the failure presumption point to the sending FF group via the receiving FF and from the sending FF group to the preparation FF group, and if both states at the sending time and the receiving time of the network are not the don't care X, the back trace after the network is stopped.

16. The computer-readable storage medium according to claim 15, wherein in said automatic test pattern generating step, if the detection of the delay failure fails with respect to either the leading delay failure or the trailing delay failure of the same network, unmarking of the narrowing range which has been marked by the back trace in said narrowing step is not performed but the mark is used as it is, and the test pattern generation is executed by using the other undetected delay failure as a target.

17. The computer-readable storage medium according to claim 11, wherein said don't care X is a logic value constructing the test pattern which does not exert an influence on a failure detection ratio even if it is replaced with an opposite value.

18. The computer-readable storage medium according to claim 11, wherein after said failure propagating step is finished, said program allows the computer to execute: a compaction failure exciting step wherein the don't care X in said path activating step changes to a value opposite to that of the state at the receiving time and the state of the failure excitation is allocated; and a compaction failure propagating step wherein the system clock is supplied as a sending clock to said sending FF, the change is given to the network from the sending FF and propagated, the system clock is supplied as a receiving clock to said receiving FF, and the network change is captured, thereby propagating the state for detecting the delay failure to the path between the sending FF and the receiving FF and generating the test pattern when the propagation succeeds.

19. The computer-readable storage medium according to claim 11, wherein in said failure exciting step, when a clock-off is allocated to the sending FF at the sending time, an uncontrol value showing that the failure excitation is impossible for a failure value is conditional-implicated in an output of said sending FF at the receiving time, an allocation itself of said uncontrol value is determined that the failure excitation is impossible, and the failure is excluded from targets of the delay failure.

20. The computer-readable storage medium according to claim 11, wherein when the failure propagation fails in said failure propagating step, among the failures which are presumed into the network from the network in which the failed failure has been presumed to a branch input of a fan-out free area, the failure in which the inverting relation is equal to that of the failed failure and a failure value is equal to a control value of a gate is extracted and excluded as an undetectable failure.

21. A system for testing integrated circuits, said system comprising: a first allocating means for allocating failure excitation states of circuit operating modes to failure presumption points of a processing target circuit including a sending FF group, a receiving FF group, and further, a preparation FF group that is one-stage precedent to said sending FF group; a second allocating means for allocating a state showing a circuit operating mode for activating a propagating path of a failure at a sending time and a receiving time to the residual preparation FFs and sending FFs; and a failure propagating means for supplying a system clock as a sending clock to said sending FF, a change is given to a network from the sending FF and propagated, and for supplying the system clock as a receiving clock to said receiving FF, and the network change is grasped, thereby propagating the state showing the circuit operating mode for detecting the delay failure to a path between the sending FF and the receiving FF; a generating means for generating a test pattern constructed by a set of input values to said sending FF group and output values of said receiving FF group as expectation values against said input values when a propagation of a state showing the circuit operating mode for detecting said delay failure is successful, wherein, when the state showing the circuit operating mode for activating the propagating path of the failure after said network change is a state which is shifted to an uncontrol value from a don't care value X, the propagating path of the failure is activated by permitting said don't care value X.

22. The system according to claim 21, further comprising: a compaction failure exciting means for allocating said state in which the don't care value X is changed to a value opposite to that of the state showing the circuit operating mode at the receiving time; and a compaction failure propagating means for supplying the system clock is as a sending clock to said sending FF, the change is given to the network from the sending FF and propagated, and for supplying the system clock as a receiving clock to said receiving FF, and the network change is grasped, and for propagating the state showing the circuit operating mode for detecting the delay failure in the path between the sending FF and the receiving FF, and wherein the generating means generates a test pattern constructed by a set of input values to said sending FF group and output values of said receiving FF group as expectation values against said input values.

23. A system for testing integrated circuits, said system comprising: a generating means for generating a test pattern for detecting a delay failure in a gate input for driving a path cut point of a circuit; a fixing means for fixing a state showing a circuit operating mode by giving control values of a gate at a sending time and a receiving time, or by giving an uncontrol value of the gate to all gate inputs at the sending time and the receiving time; and an allocating means for allocating a fixed state having a change "from 0 to 0" or "from 1 to 1" as said state showing the circuit operating mode at said path cut point, thereby fixing said state.

24. A system according to claim 23, further comprising: a generating means for generating a hazard-free fixed state for said path cut point in the case where a transfer accompanied with a change in pin input position of the control value exists among a plurality of input pins of the driver side gates to drive said path cut point between the sending time and the receiving time, and by adding and allocating the control value at the sending time to at least one input pin to which the control value is given at the receiving time.

25. A system for testing integrated circuits, said system comprising: a marking means for marking a narrowing range by back traces of two stages from a failure presumption point of a circuit to generate a test pattern for detecting a delay failure to a sending FF group via a receiving FF group and from the sending FF group to a preparation FF group; and a stopping means for stopping the execution of the back trace if both states showing a circuit operating mode at the sending time and the receiving time of a network are not a don't care value X.

26. A system according to claim 25, wherein if the detection of the delay failure fails with respect to either a leading delay failure or a trailing delay failure of the same network, the mark of the narrowing range per-formed in the back trace of said narrowing is not erased but said mark is used as it is, thereby executing the test pattern generation by using the other delay failure, as a target, whose delay failure is not detected.

27. A computer-readable storing medium which stores a program, wherein said program stores the following steps which are executed by a computer: a failure exciting step wherein states showing circuit operating modes of failure excitation at a sending time and a receiving time are allocated to failure presumption points of a processing target circuit including a sending FF group, a receiving FF group, and further, a preparation FF group that is one-stage precedent to said sending FF group; a path activating step wherein a state showing a circuit operating mode for activating a propagating path of said failure at the sending time and the receiving time is allocated to the residual preparation FFs and sending FFs; and a failure propagating step wherein a system clock is supplied as a sending clock to said sending FF, a change is given to a network from the sending FF and propagated, the system clock is supplied as a receiving clock to said receiving FF, and the network change is grasped, thereby propagating the state showing the circuit operating mode for detecting the delay failure to a path between the sending FF and the receiving FF, and when the propagation of the state showing the circuit operating mode for detecting said delay failure is successful, a test pattern constructed by a set of input values to said sending FF group and output values of said receiving FF group as expectation values against said input values is generated, and further, as said path activating step, when the state showing the circuit operating mode for activating the propagating path of the failure after said network change is a state which is shifted to an uncontrol value from a don't care value X, the propagating path of the failure is activated by permitting said don't care value X.

28. A medium according to claim 27, wherein after said failure propagating step is finished, said program further stores: a compaction failure exciting step wherein said state in which the don't care value X in said path activating step is changed to a value opposite to that of the state showing the circuit operating mode at the receiving time is allocated; and a compaction failure propagating step wherein the system clock is supplied as a sending clock to said sending FF, the change is given to the network from the sending FF and propagated, the system clock is supplied as a receiving clock to said receiving FF, and the network change is grasped, thereby propagating the state showing the circuit operating mode for detecting the delay failure in the path between the sending FF and the receiving FF, and when the propagation of said state is successful, the test pattern constructed by a set of input values to said sending FF group and output values of said receiving FF group as expectation values against said input values is generated.

29. A computer-readable storing medium which stores a program, wherein said program stores the following steps which are executed by a computer: generating a test pattern for detecting a delay failure in a gate input for driving a path cut point of a circuit; fixing a state showing a circuit operating mode by giving control values of a gate at a sending time and a receiving time, or by giving an uncontrolled value of the gate to all gate inputs at the sending time and the receiving time; and allocating a fixed state having a change "from 0 to 0" or "from 1 to 1" as said state showing the circuit operating mode at said path cut point, thereby fixing said state.

30. A medium according to claim 29, wherein said program further stores a step wherein: generating a hazard-free fixed state for said path cut point in the case where a transfer accompanied with a change in pin input position of the control value exists among a plurality of input pins of the driver side gates to drive said path cut point between the sending time and the receiving time, and by adding and allocating the control value at the sending time to at least one input pin to which the control value is given at the receiving time.

31. A computer-readable storing medium which stores a program, wherein said program stores the following narrowing step which is executed by a computer: a narrowing range is marked by back traces of two stages from a failure presumption point of a circuit to generate a test pattern for detecting a delay failure to a sending FF group via a receiving FF group and from the sending FF group to a preparation FF group, and if both states showing a circuit operating mode at the sending time and the receiving time of a network are not a don't care value X, execution of the back trace after the network is stopped.

32. A medium according to claim 31, wherein said program further stores a step wherein: if the detection of the delay failure fails with respect to either a leading delay failure or a trailing delay failure of the same network, the mark of the narrowing range performed in the back trace of said narrowing is not erased but said mark is used as it is, thereby executing the test pattern generation by using the other delay failure, as a target, whose delay failure is not detected.

33. A pattern forming method of forming a test pattern for detecting a delay failure of a circuit, comprising: a failure exciting step wherein states showing circuit operating modes of failure excitation at a sending time and a receiving time are allocated to failure presumption points of a processing target circuit including a sending FF group, a receiving FF group, and further, a preparation FF group that is one-stage precedent to said sending FF group; a path activating step wherein a state showing a circuit operating mode for activating a propagating path of said failure at the sending time and the receiving time is allocated to the residual preparation FFs and sending FFs; and a failure propagating step wherein a system clock is supplied as a sending clock to said sending FF, a change is given to a network from the sending FF and propagated, the system clock is supplied as a receiving clock to said receiving FF, and the network change is grasped, thereby propagating the state showing the circuit operating mode for detecting a delay failure to a path between the sending FF and the receiving FF, and when the propagation of the state showing the circuit operating mode for detecting said delay failure is successful, a test pattern constructed by a set of input values to said sending FF group and output values of said receiving FF group as expectation values against said input values is generated, wherein, further, as said path activating step, when the state showing the circuit operating mode for activating the propagating path of the failure after said network change is a state which is shifted to an uncontrol value from a don't care value X, the propagating path of the failure is activated by permitting said don't care value X.

34. A method according to claim 33, wherein after said failure propagating step is finished, said method further comprises: a compaction failure exciting step wherein said state in which the don't care value X in said path activating step is changed to a value opposite to that of the state showing the circuit operating mode at the receiving time is allocated; and a compaction failure propagating step wherein the system clock is supplied as a sending clock to said sending FF, the change is given to the network from the sending FF and propagated, the system clock is supplied as a receiving clock to said receiving FF, and the network change is grasped, thereby propagating the state showing the circuit operating mode for detecting the delay failure in the path between the sending FF and the receiving FF, and when the propagation of said state is successful, the test pattern constructed by a set of input values to said sending FF group and output values of said receiving FF group as expectation values against said input values is generated.

35. A pattern forming method comprising a step wherein: generating a test pattern for detecting a delay failure in a gate input for driving a path cut point of a circuit; fixing a state showing a circuit operating mode by giving control values of a gate at a sending time and a receiving time, or by giving an uncontrolled value of the gate to all gate inputs at the sending time and the receiving time; and allocating a fixed state having a change "from 0 to 0" or "from 1 to 1" as said state showing the circuit operating mode at said path cut point, thereby fixing said state.

36. A method according to claim 35, further comprising a step wherein: generating a hazard-free fixed state for said path cut point in the case where a transfer accompanied with a change in pin input position of the control value exists among a plurality of input pins of the driver side gates to drive said path cut point between the sending time and the receiving time, and by adding and allocating the control value at the sending time to at least one input pin to which the control value is given at the receiving time.

37. A pattern forming method comprising a narrowing step wherein: a narrowing range is marked by back traces of two stages from a failure presumption point of a circuit to generate a test pattern for detecting a delay failure to a sending FF group via a receiving FF group and from the sending FF group to a preparation FF group, and if both states showing a circuit operating mode at the sending time and the receiving time of a network are not a don't care value X, execution of the back trace after the network is stopped.

38. A method according to claim 37, wherein if the detection of the delay failure fails with respect to either a leading delay failure or a trailing delay failure of the same network, the mark of the narrowing range performed in the back trace of said narrowing is not erased but said mark is used as it is, thereby generating the test pattern by using the other delay failure, as a target, whose delay failure is not detected.

39. A pattern forming apparatus for forming a test pattern for detecting a delay failure of a circuit, comprising: a failure exciting unit which allocates states showing circuit operating modes of failure excitation at a sending time and a receiving time to failure presumption points of a processing target circuit including a sending FF group, a receiving FF group, and further, a preparation FF group that is one-stage precedent to said sending FF group; a path activating unit which allocates a state showing a circuit operating mode for activating a propagating path of said failure at the sending time and the receiving time to the residual preparation FFs and sending FFs; and a failure propagating unit constructed in such a manner that a system clock is supplied as a sending clock to said sending FF, a change is given to a network from the sending FF and propagated, the system clock is supplied as a receiving clock to said receiving FF, and the network change is grasped, thereby propagating the state showing the circuit operating mode for detecting the delay failure to a path between the sending FF and the receiving FF, and when the propagation of the state showing the circuit operating mode for detecting said delay failure is successful, a test pattern constructed by a set of input values to said sending FF group and output values of said receiving FF group as expectation values against said input values is generated, wherein, further, when the state showing the circuit operating mode for activating the propagating path of the failure after said network change is a state which is shifted to an uncontrol value from a don't care value X, said path activating unit activates the propagating path of the failure by permitting said don't care value X.

40. An apparatus according to claim 39, wherein after the process in said failure propagating unit is finished, said apparatus further comprises: a compaction failure exciting unit which allocates said state in which the don't care value X in said path activating unit is changed to a value opposite to that of the state showing the circuit operating mode at the receiving time; and a compaction failure propagating unit constructed in such a manner that the system clock is supplied as a sending clock to said sending FF, the change is given to the network from the sending FF and propagated, the system clock is supplied as a receiving clock to said receiving FF, and the network change is grasped, thereby propagating the state showing the circuit operating mode for detecting the delay failure in the path between the sending FF and the receiving FF, and when the propagation of said state is successful, the test pattern constructed by a set of input values to said sending FF group and output values of said receiving FF group as expectation values against said input values is generated.

41. A pattern forming apparatus for forming a test pattern for detecting a delay failure of a circuit, comprising: a generating means for generating a test pattern for detecting a delay failure in a gate input for driving a path cut point of a circuit; a fixing means for fixing a state showing a circuit operating mode by giving control values of a gate at a sending time and a receiving time, or by giving an uncontrolled value of the gate to all gate inputs at the sending time and the receiving time; and an allocating means for allocating a fixed state having a change "from 0 to 0" or "from 1 to 1" as said state showing the circuit operating mode at said path cut point, thereby fixing said state.

42. An apparatus according to claim 41, further comprising: a generating means for generating a hazard-free fixed state for said path cut point in the case where a transfer accompanied with a change in pin input position of the control value exists among a plurality of input pins of the driver side gates to drive said path cut point between the sending time and the receiving time, and by adding and allocating the control value at the sending time to at least one input pin to which the control value is given at the receiving time.

43. A pattern forming apparatus for forming a test pattern for detecting a delay failure of a circuit, comprising: a narrowing processing unit constructed in such a manner that a narrowing range is marked by back traces of two stages from a failure presumption point of a circuit to generate a test pattern for detecting a delay failure to a sending FF group via a receiving FF group and from the sending FF group to a preparation FF group, and if both states showing a circuit operating mode at the sending time and the receiving time of a network are not a don't care value X, execution of the back trace after the network is stopped.

44. An apparatus according to claim 43, further comprising a pattern generating unit constructed in such a manner that if the detection of the delay failure fails with respect to either a leading delay failure or a trailing delay failure of the same network, the mark of the narrowing range performed in the back trace of said narrowing is not erased but said mark is used as it is, thereby executing the test pattern generation by using the other delay failure, as a target, whose delay failure is not detected.

45. A system for testing integrated circuits, comprising: a reading means for reading out circuit data; a path cut means for selecting a path cut point from a target circuit and for fixing a state by a path cut countermeasure unit; and an automatic test pattern generating means for generating test data to detect a delay failure with respect to the circuit whose path cut has been finished as a target a narrowing means for specifying a processing target circuit where the processing target circuit includes a sending FF group corresponding to failure presumption points, a receiving FF, and further, a preparation FF group that is one-stage precedent to said sending FF group; a failure exciting means for allocating states of failure excitation at sending time and receiving time which have an inverting relation such that the state changes from 0 to 1 in a leading failure and changes from 1 to 0 in a trailing failure to said failure presumption points; a path activating means for allocating states at the sending time and the receiving time for activating a propagating path of said failure to the residual preparation FFs and sending FFs; and a failure propagating means for sending a system clock as a sending clock to said sending FF, a change is given to a network from the sending FF and propagated, and for supplying the system clock is supplied as a receiving clock to said receiving FF, and the network change is captured, thereby propagating a state for detecting the delay failure to a path between the sending FF and the receiving FF and generating a test pattern when the propagation succeeds, and further, in said path activating means, an allocation of a don't care X is permitted as a state for activating the propagating path of the failure, and in said failure propagating means, after the change in network, the state is transferred from the don't care X to an uncontrol value, thereby activating the propagating path of the failure.

46. An integrated circuit testing apparatus comprising: a circuit data reading unit which reads out circuit data; a path cut countermeasure unit which selects a path cut point from a target circuit and fixes a state; and an automatic test pattern generation unit which generates test data to detect a delay failure with respect to the circuit whose path cut has been finished as a target, wherein said automatic test pattern generation unit comprises: a narrowing unit which specifies an area including a sending FF group corresponding to failure presumption points, a receiving FF, and further, a preparation FF group that is one-stage precedent to said sending FF group as a processing target circuit; a failure exciting unit which allocates states of failure excitation at sending time and receiving time which have an inverting relation such that the state changes from 0 to 1 in a leading failure and changes from 1 to 0 in a trailing failure to said failure presumption points; a failure propagating state setting unit which allocates states at the sending time and the receiving time for activating a propagating path of said failure to the residual preparation FFs and sending FFs; and an automatic test pattern generation control unit which supplies a system clock as a sending clock to the sending FF, gives a change to a network from the sending FF and propagates the change, supplies the system clock as a receiving clock to said receiving FF, and captures the network change, thereby propagating a state for detecting the delay failure to a path between the sending FF and the receiving FF and generating a test pattern when the propagation succeeds, and further, said failure propagating state setting unit permits an allocation of a don't care X as a state for activating the propagating path of the failure, and said automatic test pattern generation control unit transfers the state from the don't care X to an uncontrol value after the change in network, thereby activating the propagating path of the failure.

47. A system for testing integrated circuits, said system comprising: an allocating means for allocating a state showing a circuit operating mode of failure excitation to failure presumption points of a circuit for generating a test pattern for detecting a delay failure; an implicating means for conditionally implicating an uncontrolled value (u) showing that the failure excitation is impossible in a failure value corresponding to an output of said sending FF at a receiving time when a clock-off has been allocated to a sending FF at a sending time, and an exclusion means for excluding said failure presumption points from targets of the delay failure when said uncontrol value (u) has been allocated to said failure presumption points, and when it is determined that the failure excitation is impossible.

48. A system for testing integrated circuits, said system comprising: a detecting means for detecting a failure when failure propagation of a circuit to generate a test pattern for detecting a delay failure; a presumption means for presuming said failure propagation to a branch input in a fan-out free area where a circuit having a branch output does not exist; an extracting means for extracting a failure value that is equal to a control value of a gate where the failure in which an inverting relation of a failure value is equal to that of said failed failure; and an excluding means for excluding the failure presumed on said network as an undetectable failure.

49. A computer-readable storing medium which stores a program, wherein said program stores the following steps which are executed by a computer: when a state showing a circuit operating mode of failure excitation is allocated to failure presumption points of a circuit for generating a test pattern for detecting a delay failure, if a clock-off has been allocated to a sending FF at a sending time, an uncontrol value (u) showing that the failure excitation is impossible is conditional-implicated in a failure value corresponding to an output of said sending FF at a receiving time, and when said uncontrol value (u) has been allocated to said failure presumption points, it is determined that the failure excitation is impossible, and said failure presumption points are excluded from targets of the delay failure.

50. A computer-readable storing medium which stores a program, wherein said program stores the following steps which are executed by a computer: when failure propagation of a circuit to generate a test pattern for detecting a delay failure fails, among the failures which are presumed on a network from failure presumption points, on the network, where the failure which failed in said failure propagation has been presumed to a branch input in a fan-out free area where a circuit having a branch output does not exist, the failure in which an inverting relation of a failure value is equal to that of said failed failure and the failure value is equal to a control value of a gate is extracted, thereby excluding the failure presumed on said network as an undetectable failure.

51. A pattern forming method comprising a step wherein: when a state showing a circuit operating mode of failure excitation is allocated to failure presumption points of a circuit for generating a test pattern for detecting a delay failure, if a clock-off has been allocated to a sending FF at a sending time, an uncontrol value (u) showing that the failure excitation is impossible is conditional-implicated in a failure value corresponding to an output of said sending FF at a receiving time, and when said uncontrol value (u) has been allocated to said failure presumption points, it is determined that the failure excitation is impossible, and said failure presumption points are excluded from targets of the delay failure.

52. A pattern forming method comprising a step wherein: when failure propagation of a circuit to generate a test pattern for detecting a delay failure fails, among the failures which are presumed on a network from failure presumption points, on the network, where the failure which failed in said failure propagation has been presumed to a branch input in a fan-out free area where a circuit having a branch output does not exist, the failure in which an inverting relation of a failure value is equal to that of said failed failure and the failure value is equal to a control value of a gate is extracted, thereby excluding the failure presumed on said network as an undetectable failure.

53. A pattern forming apparatus for forming a test pattern for detecting a delay failure of a circuit, comprising: a failure exciting unit constructed in such a manner that when a state showing a circuit operating mode of failure excitation is allocated to failure presumption points of a circuit for generating the test pattern for detecting a delay failure, if a clock-off has been allocated to a sending FF at a sending time, an uncontrol value (u) showing that the failure excitation is impossible is conditional-implicated in a failure value corresponding to an output of said sending FF at a receiving time, and when said uncontrol value (u) has been allocated to said failure presumption points, it is determined that the failure excitation is impossible, and said failure presumption points are excluded from targets of the delay failure.

54. A pattern forming apparatus for forming a test pattern for detecting a delay failure of a circuit, comprising: a failure propagating unit constructed in such a manner that when failure propagation of a circuit to generate the test pattern for detecting a delay failure fails, among the failures which are presumed on a network from failure presumption points, on the network, where the failure which failed in said failure propagation has been presumed to a branch input in a fan-out free area where a circuit having a branch output does not exist, the failure in which an inverting relation of a failure value is equal to that of said failed failure and the failure value is equal to a control value of a gate is extracted, thereby excluding the failure presumed on said network as an undetectable failure.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The invention relates to integrated circuit testing method, program, storing medium, and apparatus for automatically forming a test pattern of a dynamic function test and testing, more particularly, to integrated circuit testing method, program, storing medium, and apparatus in which a failure detection ratio of a dynamic function test for detecting a delay failure by applying a system clock is improved, thereby shortening a processing time.

2. Description of the Related Arts

In recent years, an influence by delay failures which are mixed due to a variation in manufacturing processes of LSIs has been increasing due to the realization of a high speed and microminiaturization of a circuit, and those delay failures cannot be detected if only a conventional low-speed static function test (SFT) is used. Therefore, sufficient test quality cannot be guaranteed with respect to the operation in a state where the LSI is actually assembled into a system. Therefore, there has been proposed a dynamic function test (DFT) in which a system clock is supplied as a sending clock, a change is given to a network from a sending FF and propagated, similarly, the system clock is supplied as a receiving clock, and the change is detected by a receiving FF, thereby detecting a delay failure of a path between the sending FF and the receiving FF.

An automatic test pattern generation (ATPG) method of automatically generating a test pattern for such a conventional dynamic function test is used, as a target, for detection of a transition failure which is presumed on the network or for the transferring operation of a path between the specific sending FF and the receiving FF. In this case, as a method of activating the failure propagating path, due to a restriction for improving resolution regarding the detection of the transition failure or the measurement of the specific path serving as a target, that is, due to a restriction for suppressing the occurrence of a hazard, a method of monotonously activating only the propagating path of the transition failure to be detected or the specific path for allowing the transferring operation to be executed is often used.

However, in such a automatic test pattern generation using the conventional activating method of the single path as mentioned above, in all multi-input gates existing on the activating path, states before and after the sending clock need to be aligned to uncontrol values with respect to inputs from paths other than the path to be activated. The test certainly fails in the case where an inevitable change is propagated to the gate input to which the uncontrol value is to be set at timing before and after the sending clock due to re-convergence of the path to be activated or the like. Therefore, it is difficult to obtain the sufficient detection ratio with respect to the transition failure or the specific path for allowing the transferring operation to be executed as a target of the automatic test pattern generation.

In automatic test pattern generation according to the activating method of the single path, since,no change exists in the gate inputs from the paths other than the path to be activated before and after the sending clock, the transition failure which is detected by the test pattern or the specific path which allows the transferring operation to be executed is limited to the transition failure on the path to be activated or the specific path for allowing the transferring operation to be executed. There is a problem such that if it is intended to obtain the highest failure detection ratio as possible, the number of tests which are generated increases. When considering the operation of an LSI assembled in an actual system, a situation such that only the single path is activated in the transfer path from the sending FF to the receiving FF is considered to be a unique case. There is a problem such that a possibility that the operation of the test pattern formed by the conventional testing method is deviated from the operation of the LSI assembled in the actual system is high.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

According to the invention, there are provided integrated circuit testing method, program, storing medium, and apparatus for improving a detection ratio of a delay failure in a dynamic function test which applies a system clock, reducing the number of generation tests, and shortening a processing time.

The invention provides an integrated circuit testing method comprising: a reading step wherein circuit data is read out by a circuit data reading unit; a path cut step wherein a path cut point is selected from a target circuit and a state is fixed by a path cut countermeasure unit; and an automatic test pattern generating step wherein test data to detect a delay failure with respect to the circuit whose path cut has been finished as a target is generated by an automatic test pattern generation unit (ATPG unit).

(Permission of don't care X as a propagating path activating state)

As such an integrated circuit testing method, according to the invention, the automatic test pattern generating step comprises:

a narrowing step wherein an area including a sending FF group corresponding to failure presumption points, a receiving FF, and further, a preparation FF group that is one-stage precedent to the sending FF group is specified as a processing target circuit by a narrowing processing unit;

a failure exciting step wherein states of failure excitation at sending time and receiving time which have an inverting relation such that the state changes from 0 to 1 in a leading failure and changes from 1 to 0 in a trailing failure are allocated to the failure presumption points by a failure exciting unit;

a path activating step wherein states at the sending time and the receiving time for activating a propagating path of the failure are allocated to the residual preparation FFs and sending FFs by a failure propagating state setting unit; and

a failure propagating step wherein, by an automatic test pattern generation control unit, a system clock is supplied as a sending clock to the sending FF, a change is given to a network from the sending FF and propagated, the system clock is supplied as a receiving clock to the receiving FF, and the network change is captured, thereby propagating a state for detecting the delay failure to a path between the sending FF and the receiving FF and generating a test pattern when the propagation succeeds,

and further, in the path activating step, an allocation of a don't care X is permitted as a state for activating the propagating path of the failure, and

in the failure propagating step, after the change in network, the state is transferred from the don't care X to an uncontrol value, thereby activating the propagating path of the failure. The don't care X is a logic value constructing a test pattern which does not exert an influence on the failure detection ratio even if the state value is replaced with the opposite value.

As mentioned above, hitherto, the uncontrol value without a change, for example, an uncontrol value 1 has been allocated in the case of an AND gate as a condition to activate the path for propagating the delay failure. However, according to the invention, since the activating condition in which the state value is set from the don't care X at the sending time before the change into the uncontrol value at the receiving time after the change is admitted, even in the case where the inevitable change is propagated to the network to which the activating conditions are given by the state allocation which performs the failure excitation, the test pattern can be generated. Even in the case where the failure propagating path itself is converged and the inevitable change is propagated to a plurality of paths, the test pattern can be generated. Since the change in uncontrol value from the don't care X is admitted as an activating condition, the state allocation of 0 and 1 at the sending time is collected to X and the number of states which are allocated decreases. Since the allocation states decrease, a possibility of the occurrence of a contradiction decreases.

(Failure Excitation in Compaction)

According to the integrated circuit testing method of the invention, after the failure propagating step is finished, the method comprises:

a compaction failure exciting step wherein the don't care X in the path activating step changes to a value opposite to that of the state at the receiving time and the state of the failure excitation is allocated; and

a compaction failure propagating step wherein the system clock is supplied as a sending clock to the sending FF, the change is given to the network from the sending FF and propagated, the system clock is supplied as a receiving clock to the receiving FF, and the network change is captured, thereby propagating the state for detecting the delay failure to the path between the sending FF and the receiving FF and generating the test pattern when the propagation succeeds.

As mentioned above, after the failure propagation succeeded and was finished in the failure propagating step which was executed first, by the failure excitation such that the don't care X changes to a value opposite to that of the state at the receiving time and the state of the failure excitation is allocated, the path to which the activating condition has been given in the first failure propagation can be set to the failure propagating path. By repetitively executing such a process with respect to all residual undetectable presumption failures which can be selected, efficiency of the pattern compaction is improved and the number of generation test patterns decreases.

(Discrimination about Whether the Failure Excitation is Impossible or Not)

The failure exciting step is characterized in that when a clock-off is allocated to the sending FF at the sending time, an uncontrol value (u) showing that a failure value is in a state where the failure excitation is impossible is conditional-implicated for an output of the sending FF at the receiving time, the allocation itself of the uncontrol value (u) is determined that the failure excitation is impossible and the failure is excluded from targets of the delay failure. Since the uncontrol value (u) is conditional-implicated in the failure value of the failure presumption point of the sending clock off as mentioned above, the allocation itself of the failure excitation is determined to be contradictory (the excitation is impossible) and the wasteful target is reduced.

(Discrimination of Undetectable Failure)

When the failure propagation fails in the failure propagating step, among the failures which are presumed into the network from the network in which the failed failure has been presumed to a branch input of a fan-out free area, the failure in which the inverting relation is equal to that of the failed failure and a failure value is equal to a control value of a gate is extracted and excluded as an undetectable failure. As mentioned above, when the automatic test pattern generation regarding a certain failure fails, the failures which satisfies the conditions in which the inverting relation is equal to that of the failed failure and the failure value is equal to the control value of the gate are determined as undetectable failures and excluded from the targets, thereby realizing a high speed of the automatic test pattern generation.

(Path Cut Countermeasure)

In the path cut step, in a gate input of driving the path cut point, a control value of a gate is given at the sending time and the receiving time and the state is fixed, or the uncontrol value of the gate is given to all gate inputs at the sending time and the receiving time and the state of the path cut point is fixed by allocating a fixed state "from 0 to 0" or "from 1 to 1". If the path to be cut has a loop construction, the fixing of the state which is performed by giving the control value of the gate is similar to that of the path cut countermeasure against the ordinary loop path. However, if it does not have the loop construction, unlike the path cut countermeasure, the path itself to be cut can be also controlled to the ordinary loop path. In addition to the foregoing control, according to the invention, attention is paid to a point that in the test of the delay failure, it is sufficient that the path cut point is set to the uncontrol value of the same value between the sending time and the receiving time, the uncontrol value of the gate is given to all of the gate inputs at the sending time and the receiving time, thereby fixing the state of the path cut point. Thus, the states of n.tau. paths which exist in the transfer between the FFs and does not need the completion of the transfer in one cycle (1.tau.) are fixed at the sending time and the receiving time, thereby performing the path cut.

The path cut step has a fixed state selecting step wherein, with respect to the fixed state "from 0 to 0" or "from 1 to 1" which is allocated to the path cut point, the failure detection impossible number is measured by the automatic test pattern generating step and the fixed state whose failure detection impossible number is small is selected. By selecting the fixed state which minimizes the failure detection impossible number as mentioned above, a decrease in failure detecting ratio is prevented. Further, the path cut step has a hazard-freeing step wherein in the case where a transfer in-which a pin input position of the control value changes at the sending time and the receiving time exists among a plurality of input pins of the driver side gates for the path cut point, by adding and allocating the control value at the sending time to at least one input pin to which the control value is given at the receiving time, the hazard-free fixed state is generated for the path cut point.

(Trace Stopping Method of Narrowing)

In the narrowing step, as a preparation of the failure exciting step, a narrowing range is marked by back traces of two stages from the failure presumption point to the sending FF group via the receiving FF and from the sending FF group to the preparation FF group, and if both of the state at the sending time of the network and the state at the receiving time are not the don't care X, the back trace after the network is stopped.

In the case of performing the narrowing by the dynamic function test of the invention, to generate the change in the sending clock, the backward trace in the range from the receiving FF to the sending FF is executed and, further, it is necessary to perform the backward trace from the sending FF to the preparation FF at t