( ESNUG 443 Item 10 ) ------------------------------------------- [04/15/05]
Subject: ( ESNUG 441 #2 ) Two Users on the Synopsys DFT Compiler MAX News
> I've read the press release 3 times and I can't tell if this is really
> something new or if it's just Synopsys Marketing serving up warmed over
> DFT Compiler leftovers and calling it new (sort of like repackaging
> DC & PhysOpt & Astro and calling it "Galaxy".)
>
> - John Cooley
> ESNUG/DeepChip.com Holliston, MA
From: Amar Guettaf <aguetta=user domain=broadcom spot gone>
Hi John,
As a power user of most of the DFT technologies available today I can say
that the features provided by DFT Compiler MAX are unique.
DFT Compiler MAX is the only tool that provides a purely combinational
Compression technique that is fully integrated in the synthesis and the
physical environment. Their compression is supported in TetraMAX ATPG,
although I think there are some improvements to be made on the debug side.
For those who have used PRPG and/or MISR based compression, DFT Compiler
MAX is useful because:
1- DFT Compiler MAX provides a reasonable amount of data compression
and tester time reduction (between 5-30X depending on the design).
2- The implementation is pretty much as easy as implementing plain scan.
There are no extra timing constraints to worry about. There is no
impact on formal verification whatsoever because no state elements
are added to the design. Furthermore regular scan configuration
comes for free as it is built in the tool. There is some extra work
that needs to be done in terms of top level DFT architecture to
accommodate this, but nothing like the amount of planning required
in PRPG based techniques.
The only negative thing to mention here though is that your backend team
has to deal with a large number of smaller scan chains.
- Amar Guettaf
Broadcom San Jose, CA
---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ----
From: Savita Banerjee <savita.banerjee=user domain=st spot gone>
Hi John,
I recently read your ESNUG post on whether or not Synopsys' latest
announcement on DFT Compiler MAX was indeed a new product rather than
a repackaged one. It is very real. We've using it in beta for a few
months now to implement scan compression on two devices.
DFT Compiler-MAX is compatible with traditional fault models and ATPG
algorithms. Overall test data volume has been shown to be reduced by
a factor of 10. In contrast to other compression offered by Synopsys,
including XDBIST, we found that this new technique proved to be more
palatable given the relatively low overhead (roughly 4 K equivalent
gates) and ease of use. The compression factor is not as high as
what is achievable via XDBIST, however, the 10x improvement is
sufficient for our current applications.
This technique coupled with Synopsys' PLL support has enabled us to
increase the number of and quality of tests we're implementing.
- Savita Banerjee
STmicroelectronics Longmont, CO
Index
Next->Item
|
|
