Viterbi-Based Efficient Test Data Compression

This paper presents a Viterbi-based test compression algorithm/architecture that provides high encoding efficiency and scalability with respect to the number of test channels. The proposed scheme finds a set of compressed test vectors using the Viterbi algorithm instead of solving linear equations. By assigning a cost function to the branch metric of the Viterbi algorithm, an optimal compressed vector is selected among the possible solution set. This feature enables high flexibility to combine various test requirements such as low-power compression and/or improving capability to repeat test patterns. The proposed on-chip decompressor follows the structure of Viterbi encoders which require only one input channel. Experimental results on test volume show improvement on all ISCAS89 benchmark circuits (19.32% reduction on the average) compared to previous test data compression architectures. The proposed scheme also yields efficient power-dissipation/volume tradeoff.