Functional Compaction for Functional Test Sequences (Purdue University, I. Pomeranz)


A new technical paper titled "Functional Compaction for Functional Test Sequences" was published by IEEE Fellow Irith Pomeranz at Purdue University. Abstract: "The occurrence of silent data corruption because of hardware defects in large scale data centers points to the advantages of applying functional test sequences to detect hardware defects that escape scan-based tests. When using funct... » read more

Mitigating The Effects Of Radiation On Advanced Automotive ICs


The safety considerations in an automotive IC application have similarities to what is seen in other safety critical industries, such as the avionics, space, and industrial sectors. ISO 26262 is the state-of-the-art safety standard guiding the safety activities and work products required for electronics deployed in an automotive system. ISO 26262 requires that a design be protected from the eff... » read more

Autonomous Vehicles: IC Design Flow Walk Through


Automotive applications, particularly those related to AI and computer vision, are a significant driver of the current semiconductor boom. Established companies are mostly thriving, it’s true, but perhaps more interesting are all the new faces in the game. As usual, Mentor CEO Wally Rhines is one of the great sense-makers of the all this activity. Wally has been making the rounds at variou... » read more

How To Sleep Easier If You Test Auto ICs For A Living


Last month, I looked at the product definition process of automotive ICs, using the $7 billion microcontroller market as an illustration of design exploration to optimize performance, features, die size and product cost. Now I’d like to look at the back end of the process — the final IC testing that’s still critical no matter how sound the upfront work in defining a featuring set and aptl... » read more