AI In Test Analytics: Promise Vs. Reality


The semiconductor industry is increasingly turning to artificial intelligence as the solution for increasing complexity in test analytics, hoping algorithms can tame the growing flood of production data. The need to extract actionable insight from that torrent is pressing. AI/ML (AI) models promise to find correlations buried in multidimensional datasets, predict failures before they occur, and... » read more

New Frontiers In Fault Detection And Classification


IC manufacturers are increasingly relying on intelligent data processing to prevent downtime, improve yields, and reduce scrap. They are integrating that with fault detection and classification (FDC) to trace faults to their cause. Today’s FDC systems feature better sensors, variability control, and both predictive and prescriptive modeling. In the future, FDC will enable real-time decisio... » read more

Optimizing System Production with On-Chip Telemetry and ML-Driven Analytics


Abstract As system companies integrate increasingly advanced chips onto their boards for high-performance markets such as AI, Cloud, Telecommunications, and Automotive, the complexity of system production continues to rise. Ensuring quality, performance, and lifetime reliability while minimizing test costs and production time has become a significant challenge.‍ A new solution addres... » read more

Rethinking Scan Chains In Semiconductor Test


An explosion in design complexity, fueled by increased transistor density and fundamental shifts in chip architectures, are beginning to overwhelm traditional approaches to test. Defects can show up in the clock trees that drive scan chains, and even inside blocks of scan cells, which may number in the millions. Jayant D'Souza, technical product director for yield learning products in Siemens E... » read more

Problems In Testing AI Chips


As AI chips get larger, it becomes much harder to test them. Today, there can be as many as 22,000 pins on a 150mm² die, but in the future that number may increase to 80,000 pins. That creates a huge challenge for the fabs and the testers. Jack Lewis, chief technologist at Modus Test, talks about the intricacies of testing these complex devices, from maintaining contact with those pins even on... » read more

Identifying Sources Of Silent Data Corruption


Silent data errors are raising concerns in large data centers, where they can propagate through systems and wreak havoc on long-duration programs like AI training runs. SDEs, also called silent data corruption, are technically rare. But with many thousands of servers, which contain millions of processors running at high utilization rates, these damaging events become common in large fleets. ... » read more

Need For Speed Drives Targeted Testing


As packaging complexity increases and nodes shrink, defect detection becomes significantly more difficult. Engineers must contend with subtle variations introduced during fabrication and assembly without sacrificing throughput. New material stacks degrade signal-to-noise ratios, which makes metrology more difficult. At the same time, inspection systems face a more nuanced challenge — how t... » read more

Reversible Chain Diagnosis


For advanced technologies, the industry is seeing very complicated silicon defect types and defect distribution. One consequence is that scan chain diagnosis becomes more difficult. To improve the resolution of scan chain diagnosis, Tessent Diagnosis can use new scan chain test patterns to leverage a reversible scan chain architecture. This paper describes the novel scan chain architecture t... » read more

Wafer-Level Test Infrastructure for Higher Parallel Wafer Level Testing of SoC


A new technical paper titled "Design and Implementation of Test Infrastructure for Higher Parallel Wafer Level Testing of System-on-Chip" was published by researchers at Inha University and Teradyne. Abstract "Semiconductor companies have been striving to reduce their manufacturing costs. High parallelism is a key factor in reducing costs during wafer-level testing. Wafer testing is conduct... » read more

Simulation Closes Gap Between Chip Design Optimization And Manufacturability


Simulation is playing an increasingly critical and central role throughout the design-through-manufacturing flow, fusing together everything from design to manufacturing and test in order to reduce the number and cost of silicon respins. The sheer density of modern chips, combined with advanced packaging techniques like 3D stacking and heterogeneous integration, has made iterative physical p... » read more

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