Recently there are various requirements for LSI testing, such as test compaction, test compression, low power dissipation or increase of defect coverage. If test sequences contain lots of don't cares (Xs), then their flexibility can be used to meet the above requirements. In this paper, we propose methods for finding as many Xs as possible in test sequences for sequential circuits. Given a fully specified test sequence generated by a sequential ATPG, the proposed methods produce a test sequence containing Xs without losing stuck-at fault coverage of the original test sequence. The methods apply an approach based on fault simulation, and they introduce some heuristics for reducing the simulation effort. Experimental results for ISCAS'89 benchmark circuits show the effectiveness of the proposed methods.

This paper describes a method of test data compression for a given test set using statistical encoding. In order to maximize the effectiveness of statistical encoding, the method first converts some specified input values in the test set to unspecified ones without losing fault coverage, and then reassigns appropriate logic values to the unspecified inputs. Experimental results for ISCAS-89 benchmark circuits show that the proposed method can on the average reduce the test data volume to less than 25% of that required for the original test set.