Reducing test application time and power dissipation for scan-based testing via multiple clock disabling

Two problems that are becoming quite critical for scan-based testing are long test application time and high test power consumption. Previously many efficient methods have been developed to address these two problems separately. In this paper we propose a novel method called the multiple clock disabling (MCD) technique to reduce test application time and test power dissipation simultaneously. Our method is made possible by cleverly employing a number of existing techniques to generate a special set of test patterns that is suitable for a scan architecture based on the MCD technique. Experimental results show that on average 81% and 85% reductions in test application time and power dissipation have been respectively obtained when comparing to the conventional scan method.