SCIRTSS: A Search System for Sequential Circuit Test Sequences

This paper describes SCIRTSS (a sequential circuit test search system). An analytical basis is given for using tree search techniques in determining test sequences for sequential circuits. The basic algorithm for the system of SCIRTSS programs is described and the extent to which the user can influence the search procedure is discussed. Included are the results of the application of SCIRTSS to eight sequential circuits of varying complexity on each one of which it succeeded in finding a fault detection sequence for at least 98 percent of the simple logical faults. This suggests that SCIRTSS can be effective on more complex LSI parts than other automatic test generation methods currently available. Breaking the tree search into two separate search procedures and partitioning circuits when possible into control and data sections are unique features which contribute to SCIRTSS efficiency.