tag: built-in self-test

Are Chips Getting More Reliable?
By Ed Sperling - 28 Jan, 2016 - Comments: 4

Reliability is emerging as a key metric in the semiconductor industry, alongside of power, performance and cost, but it also is becoming harder to measure and increasingly difficult to achieve. Most large semiconductor companies look at reliability in connection with consumer devices that last several years before they are replaced, but a big push into automotive, medical and industrial elec... » read more

Why Test Is Changing
By Ann Mutschler - 22 Dec, 2015 - Comments: 0

Test is undergoing a revolution in terms of how it is perceived, how it is performed and where it is done. For years, test was something of an afterthought. It was a separate operation that was done after the design was finished, or it was a self-contained module that had to be characterized for power, heat and electrical effects, but not much else. As more chips find their way into markets ... » read more

Advanced IC Packaging Biz Heats Up
By Mark LaPedus - 20 Aug, 2015 - Comments: 0

After a number of false starts and lackluster adoption, the advanced IC packaging market is finally heating up. On one front, for example, a new wave of chips based on advanced [getkc id="82" kc_name="2.5D"]/[getkc id="42" kc_name="3D"] stacked-die is entering the market. And on another front, the momentum is building for new and advanced 2D packages, such as embedded package-on-package (PoP... » read more

Memory Design At 16/14nm
By Brian Bailey - 28 May, 2015 - Comments: 0

As we get older the memory may start to fade, but that is not a viable option if we are talking about embedded memory. Chips contain increasing amounts of memory, and for many designs memory consumes more than half of the total chip area. “At 28nm we saw a few people with greater than 400Mbits of memory on chip,” says Prasad Saggurti, product marketing manager for Embedded Memory IP at [... » read more

Balancing The Cost Of Test
By Brian Bailey - 23 Oct, 2014 - Comments: 0

As semiconductor devices became larger and more complex, the cost of [getkc id="174" kc_name="test"] increased. Testers were large pieces of capital equipment designed to execute functional vectors at-speed and the technology being used had to keep up with increasing demands placed on them. Because of this, the cost of test did not decrease in the way that other high-tech equipment did. Around ... » read more

Five Disruptive Test Technologies
By Mark LaPedus - 19 Jun, 2014 - Comments: 0

For years, test has been a critical part of the IC manufacturing flow. Chipmakers, OSATs and the test houses buy the latest testers and design-for-test (DFT) software tools in the market and for good reason. A plethora of unwanted field returns is not acceptable in today’s market. The next wave of complex chips may require more test coverage and test times. That could translate into higher... » read more

How Much Testing Is Enough?
By Mark LaPedus - 15 May, 2014 - Comments: 1

As chipmakers move towards finer geometries, IC designs are obviously becoming more complex and expensive. Given the enormous risks involved, chipmakers must ensure the quality of the parts before they go out the door. And as part of quality assurance process, that requires a sound test strategy. But for years, IC makers have faced the same dilemma. On one hand, they want a stringent test me... » read more

Improve Logic Test With A Hybrid ATPG/BIST Solution
By Various Writers - 14 Nov, 2013 - Comments: 0

Two test strategies are used to test virtually all IC logic—automatic test pattern generation (ATPG) with test pattern compression, and logic built-in self-test (BIST). For many years, there was a passionate debate between some DFT practitioners about which is the best test method— ATPG or BIST. ATPG has been dominant for years, and is now used for full-chip test across the electronics indu... » read more

3D Brings Test Into Fashion
By Ann Mutschler - 16 May, 2013 - Comments: 0

By Ann Steffora Mutschler As integral and critical as test is to the success of an SoC, it isn’t always one of those topics in semiconductor design that seems fashionable. But as Bassilios Petrakis, director of product marketing for test products at Cadence pointed out, “[Test] is not in fashion, but when we hit one of those brick walls then suddenly we have to think how we are going to... » read more

BIST For Low-Power Devices
By Steve Pateras - 09 May, 2013 - Comments: 0

By Stephen Pateras The persistent growth of mobile computing is driving an increasing need to manage power consumption within semiconductor devices. This has significant implications on the design and test of these devices. Low-power requirements affect test in two separate ways. First, it’s important to ensure that any functional power constraints are met (or at least adequately managed) du... » read more

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