International Business Machines Corporation

Eric Lindbloom

Edward B Eichelberger

Franco Motika

John A Waicukauski

John L Sinchak

Roger N Langmaid

A method and apparatus for testing very large scale integrated circuit devices, most particularly Level Sensitive Scan Design (LSSD) devices, by applying differently configured sequences of pseudo-random patterns in parallel to each of the input terminals of the device under test, collecting the output responses from each of the output terminals in parallel, combining these outputs to obtain a signature which is a predetermined function of all of the sequences of parallel outputs and comparing the test signature with a known good signature obtained by computer simulation. The input test stimuli are further altered in a predetermined fashion as a function of the structure of the device to be tested, to individually weight the inputs in favor of more of less binary ones or zeros.

Weighted random pattern testing apparatus and method

A method and apparatus for testing very large scale integrated circuit devices, most particularly Level Sensitive Scan Design (LSSD) devices, by applying differently configured sequences of pseudo-random patterns in parallel to each of the input terminals of the device under test, collecting the output responses from each of the output terminals in parallel, combining these outputs to obtain a signature which is a predetermined function of all of the sequences of parallel outputs and comparing the test signature with a known good signature obtained by computer simulation. The input test stimuli are further altered in a predetermined fashion as a function of the structure of the device to be tested, to individually weight the inputs in favor of more or less binary ones or zeros.

A PLA is constructed to improve random testing. Section circuits are provided that permit disabling sections of the output lines that are called segments so that the circuit can be tested one segment at a time. Selection circuits are also provided for enabling the product term lines only one at a time. Thus, while random test signals are conventionally applied to the PLA input terminals for test, only a small portion of the PLA is enabled for the test. Control signals for the selection circuits are generated randomly so that the portion of the PLA that is tested is varied randomly.

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Poughkeepsie, NY, United States of America

Eric Lindbloom