Process for identifying the location of a break in a scan chain in real time

1. A method for determining a position of a blockage, B, in a scan chain, M, of N scan cells, wherein B is a number ranging from zero through N, wherein zero represents no blockage at all, and one is the first cell shifted out in a scan chain and N is the last cell shifted out in a scan chain, the method comprising the steps of:

annotating a record for each scan cell with at least one of Z no fails, V all fails, T for toggling and S for stuck;

determining that a scan chain is blocked if the last cell in the scan chain is annotated S,

determining that a scan chain is not blocked if every cell in the scan chain is at least one of Z, V, and T, in which case B is set to zero,

computing B as a number of consecutive cells from the first scan cell in a chain annotated at least one of Z, V, and T until encountering an initial scan cell annotated S;

wherein a scan cell record for a scan cell is annotated to be toggling T if, in a plurality of test patterns shifted out of the scan chain, i) a number of low failures for the scan cell is less than a number of low strobes loaded into the scan cell for the test patterns, and ii) a number of high failures for the scan cell is less than a number of high strobes loaded into the scan cell for the test patterns,

wherein the scan cell record is annotated to be stuck S if the number of low strobes is greater than zero and the number of low failures is equal to the number of low strobes and the number of high failures is equal to zero,

wherein the scan cell record is annotated to be stuck S if the number of high strobes is greater than zero and the number of high failures is equal to the number of low strobes and the number of low failures is equal to zero,

wherein the scan cell record is annotated to be zero Z if there are no failures, and

wherein the scan cell record is annotated to be V if every strobe results in a failure.

2. A method for determining a position of a blockage, B, in a scan chain, M, of N scan cells, wherein B is a number ranging from zero through N, wherein zero represents no blockage at all, and one is the first cell shifted out in a scan chain and N is the last cell shifted out in a scan chain, the method comprising the steps of:

determining that a scan chain is blocked if a record for a last cell in the scan chain is annotated S;

computing N minus B, a number of consecutive cells from the record for a last scan cell in a chain annotated S until encountering a record for a final cell not annotated S; and

recording an S into a record for a scan cell on one of the following conditions:

if, in a plurality of test patterns shifted out of the scan chain, a number of low strobes loaded into the scan cell for the test patterns is greater than zero and a number of low failures for the scan cell is equal to the number of low strobes and a number of high failures for the scan cell is equal to zero, and

if, in the plurality of test patterns shifted out of the scan chain, a number of high strobes is greater than zero and the number of high failures is equal to the number of high strobes and the number of low failures is equal to zero.

3. The method of claim 2 further comprising the steps of:

annotating a record for each scan cell with at least one of Z no fails, V all fails, T for toggling and S for stuck; and

determining that a scan chain is not blocked if every cell in the scan chain is at least one of Z, V, and T, in which case B is set to zero.

4. The method of claim 2 further comprising the step of annotating a record for a scan cell as follows:

annotating a record for a scan cell to be toggling T if the number of low failures is less than the number of low strobes and the number of high failures is less than the number of high strobes,

annotating a record for a scan cell to be stuck S if the number of low strobes is greater than zero and the number of low failures is equal to the number of low strobes and a number of high failures is equal to zero,

annotating a record for a scan cell to be stuck S if the number of high strobes is greater than zero and a number of high failures is equal to the number of high strobes and the number of low failures is equal to zero.

5. The method of claim 2 further comprising the step of annotating a record for a scan cell as follows:

annotating a record for a scan cell to be zero Z if there are no failures, annotating a record for a scan cell to be V if every strobe results in a failure.

6. The method of claim 2 further comprising:

computing B the number of consecutive cells from the first scan cell in a chain annotated at least one of Z, V, and T until encountering an initial scan cell annotated S.

7. The method of claim 2 wherein strobes are presented as H's and L's in the plurality of test patterns, the test patterns being output from ATPG tools as ASCII files, and combined number of H's and L's per scan cell being equal to the number of test patterns.

8. A method for enabling a tester to identify a location of a break in a scan chain in real time as fail data is collected on a tester, the method comprising:

computing a blocked chain analysis signature for each scan cell in a scan chain by:

accumulating a number of low strobes and a number of high strobes loaded into a scan cell in a scan pattern set, wherein a high strobe is presented as H and a low strobe is presented as L in test patterns that are output from ATPG tools as ASCII files,

comparing a number of high strobe failures and a number of low strobe failures for the scan cell with the analysis signature, and

assigning the scan cell into a category selected from: always low, always high, and sometimes low and sometimes high.