Scanning datapaths: a fast and effective partial scan selection technique

Partial scan DFT is a commonly used technique for improving testability of sequential circuits while maintaining overhead as low as possible. In this context, the selection of the partial scan chain is usually performed at gate-level. In this paper, we present a method for quickly selecting the partial Scan Chain (SC) in datapath-like circuits. The so-obtained SC is such that the number of scan FFs is optimized and such that the achievable fault coverage is the same than with full scan approach