A portable ATPG tool for parallel and distributed systems

The use of parallel architectures for the solution of CPU and memory critical problems in the electronic CAD area has been limited up to now by several factors, like the lack of efficient algorithms the reduced portability of the code, and the cost of the hardware. However, portable message-passing libraries are now available, and the same code runs on high-cost supercomputers, as well as on common workstation networks. The paper presents an effective ATPG system for large sequential circuits developed using the PVM library and based on a genetic algorithm. The tool, named GATTO has been run on a DEC Alpha AXP farm and on a CM-5. Experimental results are provided.