A new architectural-level fault simulation using propagation prediction of grouped fault-effects

A new technique is proposed to handle fault simulation at the architectural level. The technique bypasses the need for complete gate-level structure and e ciently uses the architectural information. Symbolic data representing groups of stuck-at faults, known as fault e ects, are propagated across the circuit with intelligent propagation prediction. Fault e ects may combine and form new groups in the process. Automated behavioral simulation using only three data types is used to propagate fault e ects at the architectural level by propagation prediction; no additional high-level constraints or precomputation of faulty behavior are needed for simulation. Although not a fully deterministic algorithm, the results of ALFSIM, Architectural-Level Fault SIMulation, show high accuracy when compared with the gate-level fault simulation.