Guest Editorsʹ Introduction: Progress in Test Compression

This special issue represents a snapshot of the progress in test compression, a key strategy for dealing with rapidly growing test data volume. Test compression involves encoding test data in a compressed form so that less data needs to be transferred, thereby reducing test time and the need for tester memory. A wide variety of test compression techniques have been developed, both for compressing test vectors and compressing output responses. In recent years, several researchers and companies have developed compression methods and products that achieve significant amounts of compression. These new methods have extended the life of legacy ATE and have been synergistic with the need for additional tests to detect the defects arising in nanometer designs. Thus, test compression continues to be a very active area.