Improving linear test data compression

The output space of a linear decompressor must be sufficiently large to contain all the test cubes in the test set. The ideas proposed in this paper transform the output space of a linear decompressor so as to reduce the number of inputs required thereby increasing compression while still keeping all the test cubes in the output space. Scan inversion is used to invert a subset of the scan cells while reconfiguration modifies the linear decompressor. Any existing method for designing a linear decompressor (either combinational or sequential) can be used first to obtain the best linear decompressor that it can. Using that linear decompressor as a starting point, the proposed methods improve the compression further. The key property of scan inversion is that it is a linear transformation of the output space and, thus, the output space remains a linear subspace spanned by a Boolean matrix. Using this property, a systematic procedure based on linear algebra, is described for selecting the set of inverting scan cells to maximize compression. A symbolic Gaussian elimination method to solve a constrained Boolean matrix is proposed and utilized for reconfiguring the linear decompressor. The proposed schemes can be utilized in various design flow scenarios and require no or very little hardware overhead. Experiments indicate that significant improvements in compression can be achieved.