System and method for pruning a bridging diagnostic list

A system for generating a pruned diagnostic list of potential bridging faults in a circuit, the system comprising:

• a final logical diagnostic list of potential bridging faults, each potential bridging fault associated with at least two nets of the circuit, the final logical diagnostic list created in response to resultant vectors generated by a tester during testing for potential stuck-at faults at a plurality of nets of the circuit;
• a physical database Including physical data associated with each of the plurality of nets of the circuit;
• and
• a pruning module in communication with the physical database, the pruning module operable to apply adjacency criteria to the at least two nets of the circuit associated with each of the potential bridging faults in the final logical diagnostic list and create the pruned diagnostic list of potential bridging faults.

A system for generating a pruned diagnostic list of potential bridging faults in a circuit, the system comprising:

• a pattern generator operable to generate test patterns for testing a circuit;
• a tester in communication with the pattern generator and operable to apply the test patterns to the circuit and generate a plurality of resultant vectors;
• a stuck-at fault dictionary including a list of a plurality of nets of the circuit, each net having at least one expected response corresponding to a stuck-at fault at the net for comparison with at least one of the plurality of resultant vectors;
• a test analysis tool in communication with the pattern generator and the tester, the test analysis tool operable to create an initial logical diagnostic list of tested nets of the circuit associated with the potential stuck-at faults in the stuck-at fault dictionary in response to the expected response of each net and the plurality of resultant vectors;
• a diagnostic tool in communication with the test analysis tool and the tester, the diagnostic tool operable to create a final logical diagnostic list using the resultant vectors, stuck-at fault dictionary, and the initial logical diagnostic list, the final logical diagnostic list having a plurality of potential bridging faults ranked in order of logical probability;
• a physical database including physical data associated with each of a plurality of nets of the circuit;
• and
• a pruning module in communication with the diagnostic tool and the physical database, the pruning module operable to modify the final logical diagnostic list in response to the physical data to create the pruned diagnostic list, the pruned diagnostic list including a list of entries associated with a plurality of most probable potential bridging faults,
• wherein the final logical diagnostic list comprises a list of potential bridging faults according to a ranking of logical probability, the logical probability being determined by the diagnostic tool in response to the resultant vectors.

A method for generating a pruned diagnostic list of potential bridging faults in a circuit, the method comprising:

• creating a final logical diagnostic list of potential bridging faults in response to testing the circuit for stuck-at faults at a plurality of nets of the circuit, each potential bridging fault being associated with at least two tested nets of the circuit;
• receiving physical data associated with each of the tested nets of the circuit;
• applying adjacency criteria to the physical data associated with the at least two tested nets that are associated with each of the listed potential bridging faults;
• and
• generating the pruned diagnostic list of potential bridging faults in response to applying the adjacency criteria.