Advanced Features Of High-Speed Digital I/O Devices: Timing


In digital communication, timing is the most essential element. Any kind of violation to timing could cause you to transmit or receive incorrect data. As instruments and communication rates get faster, timing becomes even more vital, as even the smallest of changes in edges (in the pico-second range), could cause incorrect tests and communication failures. In the following paragraphs, discover ... » read more

Better Object Arrangement In Block Diagrams


How many of you have spent countless hours and worn down your keyboard arrows cleaning up LabVIEW block diagrams? LabVIEW block diagrams help you move any object 1 pixel at a time. Though this feature gives you a lot of flexibility, it also makes arranging objects on a diagram extremely tedious. When designing the LabVIEW NXG diagram, we aimed to reduce the monotony of this task and make you mo... » read more

Big Growth Areas: Connectivity, AI, Reliability


Connectivity and artificial intelligence (AI) will be the biggest drivers for 2020, with an emphasis on improved reliability across all areas. New standards, new applications, and new pressures being placed on old technology will created boundless opportunities for those ready to fill the need. Of course, there will also be a lot of carnage along the way, and we can expect to see a lot of that ... » read more

Scan Diagnosis


Jayant D’Souza, product manager at Mentor, a Siemens Business, explains the difference between scan test and scan diagnosis, what causes values in a scan test to change, how this can be used to hone in on the actual cause of a failure in a design, and how to utilize test hardware more efficiently. » read more

Testing Autonomous Vehicles


Jeff Phillips, head of automotive marketing at National Instruments, talks about how to ensure that automotive systems are reliable and safe, how test needs to shift to adapt to continual updates and changes, and why this is particularly challenging in a world where there is no known right answer. » read more

How To Ensure Reliability


Michael Schuldenfrei, corporate technology fellow at OptimalPlus, talks about how to measure quality, why it’s essential to understand all of the possible variables in the testing process, and why outliers are no longer considered sufficient to ensure reliability. » read more

Reliability At 5nm And Below


The best way to figure out how a chip or package will age is to bake it in an oven, heat it in a pressure cooker, and stick it in a freezer. Those are all standard methods to accelerate physical effects and the effects of aging, but it's not clear they will continue working as chips shrink to 5nm and 3nm, or as they are included in multi-die packages. Extending any of those kitchen-like appr... » read more

The Growing Challenges Of 5G Reliability


The test field is getting more complicated as chips become larger, more heterogeneous, and subject to almost constant changes. Nowhere is this more evident than in 5G, where standards are still evolving and use cases are still being defined. Without passing test, no technology advances. But those definitions are subject to change, and they can change again over time. The communications in... » read more

Gaps Emerge In Test And Analytics


Sensor and process drift, increased design complexity, and continued optimization of circuitry throughout its lifetime are driving test and analytics in new directions, requiring a series of base comparisons against which equipment and processes can be measured. In the design world this type of platform is called a digital twin, but in the test world there is no equivalent today. And as more... » read more

Squeezing Out More Test Compression


The trend in semiconductors leads to more IC test data volume, longer test times, and higher test costs. Embedded deterministic test (EDT) has continued to deliver more compression, which has been quite effective at containing test costs. For many designs, standard test compressions is enough, but ICs for use in automotive and medical devices require a higher manufacturing test quality, which t... » read more

← Older posts Newer posts →