A Scheme of Test Data Compression Based on Sharing-Run-Length Code

One of the major challenges in testing integrated circuits is dealing with the large test data size. To reduce the volume of test data, several test data compression schemes have been presented. But all of these schemes do not explore the relationship between consecutive runs. So a new scheme of test data compression/decompression, namely sharing-run-length code scheme （SRLCS） is presented, which is based on run length coding. It explores further the relationship between consecutive runs on the basis of traditional run length coding characteristic which uses shorter codeword to represent longer run length. Thus, only 1 bit needs to represent the whole later run in immediate two runs whose lengths are the same in this scheme. ATPG tools generate test patterns with many dont care bits, which are 95% to 99% of the bits in test data for large industrial circuits. So filling the dont care bits in test data appropriately can increase the probability of the consecutive runs whose lengths are the same. A strategy of filling dont care bits is also proposed for this scheme. Compared with other schemes, this scheme has some characteristics, such as high compression ratio and easy control and implementation. Theoretical analysis and experimental results for the Mintest test set of ISCAS-89 benchmark circuits show that the proposed scheme is a very efficient compression method.