FACT-a testability analysis methodology

A novel approach, called FACT (fault analysis and critique technique), that can provide facts about untestable and difficult-to-test faults in sequential designs by identifying them in a deterministic way is proposed. The importance of identifying such faults early in the design cycle is discussed, along with their effect on computer execution time, increasing it by as much as 65%, during test generation and simulation. These are demonstrated with real examples. Details of the underlying concepts used in FACT are explained. Some experimental results are presented.<>