A novel stuck-at based method for transistor stuck-open fault diagnosis

Abstract

While most of the fault diagnosis tools are based on gate level fault models, for instance the stuck-at model, many faults are actually at the transistor level. The stuck-open fault is one example. In this paper we introduce a method which extends the use of available gate level stuck-at fault diagnosis tools to stuck-open fault diagnosis. The method transforms the transistor level circuit description to a gate level description where stuck-open faults are represented by stuck-at faults, so that the stuck-open faults can be diagnosed directly by any of the stuck-at fault diagnosis tools. The transformation is only performed on selected gates and thus has little extra computational cost. This method also applies to the diagnosis of multiple stuck-open faults within a gate. Successful diagnosis results are presented using wafer test data and an internal diagnosis tool from Philips.