As everybody is trying to figure out what the Internet of Things (IoT) will look like and how connected things will work, I'd like to address a question that many people have: why design your own Integrated Circuit (IC) rather than just use an off-the-shelf processor, write software and be done?
In a nutshell, because ...
Chip production testing is probably the most underestimated task by ASIC development engineers. And yet, testing is an essential step with a direct impact on final chip cost.
Let’s start with the basics. Testing of chips is necessary because the chip manufacturing process cannot provide 100% yield. Silicon foundries and assembly ...
HTOL (High Temperature Operating Life) testing is a stress test defined by JEDEC to define the reliability of IC products, and is an essential part of ASIC qualification tests. This post provides a high-level overview of HTOL test. Obviously, you should refer to the standard if you plan to perform ...
I am sick and tired to hear the same buzzwords a zillion times every single day. IoT, Cognitive Computing, Cloud Computing, Fog Computing, Big Data, Artificial Intelligence, Smart-whatever (from objects to cities and pretty soon toilet paper, I'm afraid). What really makes me sick is that these buzzwords are used, ...
For decades, EDA industry has been working out options to improve their offerings and ensure silicon success for the semiconductor industry. A few decades back, while the EDA giants were unknown, design automation was exercised individually in every organization developing a product. Gradually these tools moved out of the design ...
LoadBoard (LB) is a mandatory, custom made PCB, that acts as a mechanical and electrical interface between the tester (ATE) and the device under test (DUT). LoadBoard has well-defined physical dimensions and it must fit perfectly into the tester.
It is one piece of the entire ASIC Test Solution and it ...
