Smart Strategies for Efficient Testing of 3D-ICs

Smart Strategies for Efficient Testing of 3D-ICs
by Pawan Fangaria on 02-12-2014 at 6:30 am

3D-IC has a stack of dies connected and packaged together, and therefore needs new testing strategies other than testing a single die. It’s given that a single defective die can render the whole of 3D-IC unusable, so each die in the stack must be completely and perfectly tested before its entry into that stack. Looking at it from a … Read More


Highest Test Quality in Shortest Time – It’s Possible!

Highest Test Quality in Shortest Time – It’s Possible!
by Pawan Fangaria on 12-26-2013 at 10:30 am

Traditionally ATPG (Automatic Test Pattern Generation) and BIST (Built-In-Self-Test) are the two approaches for testing the whole semiconductor design squeezed on an IC; ATPG requires external test equipment and test vectors to test targeted faults, BIST circuit is implemented on chip along with the functional logic of IC.… Read More


Early Test –> Less Expensive, Better Health, Faster Closure

Early Test –> Less Expensive, Better Health, Faster Closure
by Pawan Fangaria on 09-18-2013 at 11:00 am


I am talking about the health of electronic and semiconductor design, which if made sound at RTL stage, can set it right for the rest of the design cycle for faster closure and also at lesser cost. Last week was the week of ITC(International Test Conference) for the Semiconductor and EDA community. I was looking forward to what ITCRead More


A Hybrid Test Approach – Combining ATPG and BIST

A Hybrid Test Approach – Combining ATPG and BIST
by Daniel Payne on 09-09-2013 at 5:18 pm

In the world of IC testability we tend to look at various approaches as independent means to an end, namely high test coverage with the minimum amount of test time, minimum area impact, minimum timing impact, and acceptable power use. Automatic Test Pattern Generation (ATPG) is a software-based approach that can be applied to any… Read More


How much SRAM proportion could be integrated in SoC at 20 nm and below?

How much SRAM proportion could be integrated in SoC at 20 nm and below?
by Eric Esteve on 11-20-2012 at 4:45 am

Once upon a time, ASIC designers were integrating memories in their design (using a memory compiler being part of the design tools provided by the ASIC vendor), then they had to make the memory observable, controllable… and start developing the test program for the function, not a very enthusiastic task (“AAAA” and “5555” and other… Read More


It Takes a Village: Mentor and ARM Team Up on Test

It Takes a Village: Mentor and ARM Team Up on Test
by Beth Martin on 07-18-2012 at 5:01 pm

Benjamin Franklin, “I didn’t fail the test, I just found 100 ways to do it wrong.” I was reminded of this line during a joint Mentor-ARM seminar yesterday about testing ARM cores and memories. The complexity of testing modern SoC designs at advanced nodes, with multiple integrated ARM cores and other IP, opens up plenty of room for… Read More


Testing, testing… 3D ICs

Testing, testing… 3D ICs
by Beth Martin on 10-06-2011 at 7:01 pm

3D ICs complicate silicon testing, but solutions exist now to many of the key challenges. – by Stephen Pateras

The next phase of semiconductor designs will see the adoption of 3D IC packages, vertical stacks of multiple bare die connected directly though the silicon. Through-silicon vias (TSV) result in shorter and thinner… Read More


ARM and Mentor Team Up on Test

ARM and Mentor Team Up on Test
by Daniel Payne on 06-27-2011 at 2:31 pm

Introduction
Before DAC I met with Stephen Pateras, Ph.D. at Mentor Graphics, he is the Product Marketing Director in the Silicon Test Solutions group. Stephen has been at Mentor for two years and was part of the LogicVision acquisition. He was in early at LogicVision and went through their IPO, before that he was at IBM in the mainframe… Read More