More Manufacturing Issues, More Testing


Douglas Lefever, CEO of Advantest America, sat down with Semiconductor Engineering to talk about changes in test, the impact of advanced packaging, and business changes that are happening across the flow. What follows are excerpts of that discussion. SE: What are the big changes ahead in test? Lefever: It's less about inflection points and more like moving from algebra to calculus in the ... » read more

A Practical Approach To DFT For Large SoCs And AI Architectures, Part I


The traditional processors designed for general-purpose applications struggle to meet the computing demands and power budgets of artificial intelligence (AI) or machine leaning (ML) applications. Several semiconductor design companies are now developing dedicated AI/ML accelerators that are optimized for specific workloads such that they deliver much higher processing capabilities with much low... » read more

Streaming Scan Network: An Efficient Packetized Data Network For Testing Of Complex SoCs


Originally presented at the 2020 International Test Conference by Siemens and Intel authors, this paper describes the Tessent Streaming Scan Network technology and demonstrates how this packetized data network optimizes test time and implementation productivity for today’s complex SoCs. The author-submitted version of the IEEE paper is reprinted here with permission. Authors: Jean-Françoi... » read more

Success Stories For Packetized Scan Data


Some new design-for-test (DFT) technologies are difficult, expensive, or risky to implement but offer significant benefits. Other technologies are easy to implement but offer minor improvements. The calculation of whether (or when) to adopt new technology includes consideration of the pressures of DFT today—design complexity, the lack of flexibility in hardwiring scan channels, the proliferat... » read more

How To Maximize Your Competitiveness In The Semiconductor Industry Using Advanced DFT


Embarking on advanced SoCs without a smart design-for-test (DFT) strategy can be harmful to your bottom line. Being competitive in today’s semiconductor market means adopting integrated, scalable, and flexible solutions to cut DFT implementation time, test costs, and time-to-market. Tessent DFT technologies, developed in partnership with industry leaders, provide the most advanced DFT and yie... » read more

Power-Aware Test: Addressing Power Challenges In DFT And Test


Integrated circuit (IC) sizes continue to grow as they meet the compute requirements of cutting-edge applications such as artificial intelligence (AI), autonomous driving, and data centers. As design sizes increase, the total power consumption of the chip also increases. While process node scaling reduces a transistor’s size and its operating-voltage, power scaling has not kept up with the si... » read more

Design For Test Data


As design pushes deeper into data-driven architectures, so does test. Geir Eide, director for product management of DFT and Tessent Silicon Lifecycle Solutions at Siemens Digital Industries Software, talks with Semiconductor Engineering about a subtle but significant shift for designing testability into chips so that test data can be used at multiple stages during a device’s lifetime. » read more

Signal Connectivity Checks Are Not Just For Design-For-Test Teams


By Pawini Mahajan and Raja Koneru The complexity with system-on-chip (SoC) design continues to grow, creating greater complexity of the corresponding design-for-test (DFT) logic required for manufacturing tests. Design teams are challenged not only by high gate counts and the array of internally developed and third-party IP integrated into their designs: the need to achieve high-quality manu... » read more

AI Testing: Pushing Beyond DFT Architectures


Every day, more applications are deploying artificial intelligence (AI) system to increase automation beyond traditional systems. The continuous growth in computing demands of AI systems require designers to develop massive, highly parallel AI processor chips. Their large sizes and types of applications have a significant impact on their design and test methodologies. With thousands of repeated... » read more

Merging Verification And Test


While the disciplines of functional verification and test serve different purposes, their histories were once closely intertwined. Recent safety and security monitoring requirements coupled with capabilities being embedded into devices is bringing them closer together again, but can they successfully cooperate to bring about improvements in both? Getting there may be difficult. Three phases ... » read more

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