Reduction of Test Vectors Volume by Means of Gate-Level Reconfiguration

In this paper, a new concept which allows the reduction of test vectors volume is presented. The concept is based on reconfiguration of some gates of circuit under test. Instead of testing the original circuit, a circuit which has the same topology (but some of its gate functions are reconfigured) is actually tested. Two possible implementations of the reconfiguration are investigated. Preliminary experiments indicate that test length can be reduced to approx. 70% of its initial value while the increase in transistors is moderate.