Zero-aliasing for modeled faults

When using built-in self-test (BIST) for testing VLSI circuits the circuit response to an input test sequence, which may consist of thousands to millions of bits, is compacted into a signature which consists of only tens of bits. Usually a linear feedback shift register (LFSR) is used for response compaction via polynomial division. The compacting function is a many-to-one function and as a result some erroneous responses may be mapped to the same signature as the good response. This is known as aliasing. In this paper we deal with the selection of a feedback polynomial for the compacting LFSR, such that an erroneous response resulting from any modeled fault is mapped to a signature that is different from that for the good response. Such LFSRs are called zero-aliasing LFSRs. Only zero-aliasing LFSRs with primitive or irreducible feedback polynomials are considered due to their suitability for BIST test pattern generation.< >