Patent · US Expired

Isolating the location of defects in scan chains

US7496816B2 · kind B2 · utility

11Cited by
3References
26Claims
0Family size

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Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateMar 20, 2006
Grant dateFeb 24, 2009
Priority date
Expiry dateMay 23, 2026

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC G)Physics
  • CPC primaryG01R31/318566
  • WIPO fieldMeasurement
  • WIPO sectorInstruments

Abstract

A system and method for isolating defects in scan chains by performing diagnostics fault simulation on chosen faults that are consistent with the nature of a scan chain defect, while keeping information about predictable failures. The effects of defects at specific locations on the scan chain are modeled by compositing the effects of a subset of the faults for each defect. Each composite, which models a specific scan chain defect, is evaluated in terms of how well it predicts the failures measured at a tester, and assigned a score based on that evaluation. The composite with the highest score identifies the modeled defect which is the closest to predicting the results measured at the tester, and therefore the location on the scan chain that has the highest probability of containing the actual defect.

Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.