tag: test

Testing One, Two, Three
By Ed Sperling - 25 Aug, 2011 - Comments: 0

By Ed Sperling The rule of thumb at 90nm—still one of the mainstream process nodes—has been that test is something you do when a chip is done. You attach electrodes on either side, make sure the signal comes through clearly, and that the SoC functions properly. Try the same thing at 40nm, with multiple power islands, multiple voltage rails, lots of third-party IP and usually a slew of p... » read more

Are Test Engineers More Highly Evolved?
By Kiran Vittal - 25 Aug, 2011 - Comments: 0

In a December 2010 blog, my colleague Ron Craig wrote that 94% of respondents to a survey said that timing constraints were a problem. Well, no surprise there. But 70+% said they planned to simply “try harder” during their next project to avoid these problems. Did they really think that was a viable solution? That blog featured a good illustration of the problem. It gave me a good laugh.... » read more

3D Stacked Die Create Unique Test Issues
By Ed Sperling - 02 Dec, 2010 - Comments: 0

By Ann Steffora Mutschler While 3D die stacking promises a number of benefits including smaller footprint, faster speed, lower power and possibly lower cost, testing those devices isn’t going to be simple. There are varying degrees of challenges aligned with varying types of defects that occur throughout the process, from wafer fabrication to package assembly to system-level assembly. And... » read more

Best Practices For Multicore SoC Test And Debug
By Ann Mutschler - 21 Oct, 2010 - Comments: 0

By Ann Steffora Mutschler In increasingly complex SoC designs, many of which contain multiple cores and multiple modes, determining best practices for testing and debugging is a moving target. Jason Andrews, architect at Cadence Design Systems, said multicore debug is a huge issue. It isn’t easy to do, and there aren’t many good ways to do it. He suggested one approach is to try to u... » read more

Rethinking Test
By Ann Mutschler - 11 Feb, 2010 - Comments: 0

By Ann Steffora Mutschler The responsibility of semiconductor test has long sat solely with the test engineer as the chip designer focused on the functionality of the device. However, particularly in low-power designs, when the device is being tested, much higher power levels are applied than normal functional operation – sometimes causing the device to fail. This ‘false failure’ c... » read more

Newer posts →

  • Sponsors

About

Navigation

Connect With Us

Copyright ©2013-2025 SMG   |  Terms of Service  |  Privacy Policy