Forward-looking fault simulation for improved static compaction

Fault simulation of a test set in an order different from the order of gene ration (e.g., reverse- or random-order fault simulation) is used as a fast and effective method to drop unnecessary tests from a test set in order to reduce its size. We propose an improvement to this type of fault simulation process that makes it even more effective in reducing the test-set size. T he proposed improvement allows us to drop tests without simulating them bas ed on the fact that the faults they detect will be detected by tests that w ill be simulated later, hence the name of the improved procedure: forward-l ooking fault simulation. We present experimental results to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed improvement.