Physically Aware DFT Improves PPA

Physically Aware DFT Improves PPA
by Pawan Fangaria on 02-16-2015 at 7:00 pm

Introducing on-chip test circuitry has become a necessary criteria for an ASIC’s post manufacture testability. The test circuitry is usually referred as DFT (Design-for-Test) circuit. A typical methodology for introducing DFT circuit in a design is to replace usual flip-flops with special types of flip-flops called ‘scan… Read More


SmartScan Addresses Test Challenges of SoCs

SmartScan Addresses Test Challenges of SoCs
by Pawan Fangaria on 09-04-2014 at 4:00 pm

With advancement of semiconductor technologies, ever increasing sizes of SoCs bank on higher densities of design rather than giving any leeway towards increasing chip area and package sizes; a phenomenon often overlooked. The result is – larger designs with lesser number of pins bonded out of ever shrinking package sizes;… Read More


Physically Aware Synthesis

Physically Aware Synthesis
by Paul McLellan on 12-06-2013 at 2:47 pm

Yesterday Cadence had their annual front-end summit, the theme of which was physically aware design. I was especially interested in the first couple of presentations about physically aware synthesis. I joined Cadence in 1999 when they acquired Ambit Design Systems. One of the products that we had in development was called PKS… Read More