QUIETEST: a quiescent current testing methodology for detecting leakage faults

A hierarchical leakage fault analysis methodology is proposed for IDDQ (quiescent power supply current) testing of VLSI CMOS circuits. A software system, QUIETEST, has been developed on the basis of this methodology. The software can select a small number of test vectors for IDDQ testing from the provided functional test set. Therefore, the total test time for IDDQ measurements can be reduced significantly to make IDDQ testing of VLSI CMOS circuits feasible in a production test environment. For two VLSI circuits QUIETEST was able to select less than 1% of functional test vectors from the full test set for covering as many leakage faults as would be covered if IDDQ was measured upon the application of 100% of the vectors.<>