A Novel RTL ATPG Model Based on Gate Inherent Faults (GIF-PO) of Complex Gates

TL;DR

This paper introduces a new RTL ATPG model based on Gate Inherent Faults (GIF) that are extracted from complex gates, achieving complete coverage of gate-level faults independently of synthesis, demonstrated on standard test cases.

Contribution

It proposes a synthesis-independent RTL ATPG model using GIFs from complex gates, enhancing fault coverage analysis at RTL level.

Findings

100% GIF coverage leads to 100% gate-level fault coverage.

The model is synthesis independent.

Effective on ITC'99 testcases.

Abstract

This paper starts with a comprehensive survey on RTL ATPG. It then proposes a novel RTL ATPG model based on "Gate Inherent Faults" (GIF). These GIF are extracted from each complex gate (adder, case-statement, etc.) of the RTL source code individually. They are related to the internal logic paths of a complex gate. They are not related to any net/signal in the RTL design. It is observed, that when all GIF on RTL are covered (100%) and the same stimulus is applied, then all gate level stuck-at faults of the netlist are covered (100%) as well. The proposed RTL ATPG model is therefore synthesis independent. This is shown on ITC'99 testcases. The applied semi-automatic test pattern generation process is based on functional simulation.