Product category:
Design and Development Software
News Release from: Mentor Graphics UK | Subject: MBISTArchitect
Edited by the Electronicstalk Editorial
Team on 19 September 2002
BIST tool boosts SoC memory reliability
Mentor Graphics has increased its support for Artisan Components embedded memory products.
Mentor Graphics has increased its support for Artisan Components embedded memory products With the Mentor Graphics MBISTArchitect tool, users of Artisan memories can apply memory built-in self-test (BIST) structures to diagnose and repair manufacturing defects with minimal impact on design time and maximum impact on achieving high-quality test results and manufacturing yield
This article was originally published on Electronicstalk on 11 Oct 2004 at 8.00am (UK)
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According to the 2001 edition of the International Technology Roadmap for Semiconductors (ITRS), the percentage of embedded memory used in SoC designs is steadily increasing.
By the year 2005, the ITRS estimates SoC designs will comprise 71% memory.
This increase in memory usage requires effective memory test and repair methodologies.
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By using the memory redundancy provided with the Artisan Flex-Repair solution, in concert with the MBISTArchitect tool's BIST application, SoC designs can achieve high-test quality for improved yields.
The comprehensive detection techniques offered by the MBIST Full-Speed feature, the MBISTArchitect tool's at-speed testing capability, in combination with the versatile memory test algorithms, including the MBIST Flex user-definable algorithm feature, ensure subtle defects are identified and corrected by replacing them with redundant cells.
"The combination of memory BIST with memory redundancy offers our customers an effective strategy to improve SoC design quality and yield.
Artisan's Flex-Repair Memory solutions are designed with an "open-standard" interface to allow easy interoperability with leading embedded memory test solutions", said Dhrumil Gandhi, senior vice president of product technology, Artisan Components.
"We are pleased to have this support for Artisan's Flex-Repair Memories in the Mentor Graphics MBISTArchitect tool".
To facilitate repair, MBISTArchitect creates diagnostic circuitry to determine the location of any defects.
To simplify the operation, the output identifies the memory column that must be replaced.
This diagnostic data is mapped to physical co-ordinates for laser fuse blowing correction of the error.
To aid laser fuse methodologies, Artisan has included a Fuse Box Generator feature in its Flex-Repair memories so customers can store the repair information for the memories.
The Fuse Box can be located anywhere on the circuit and is optimised for low-power consumption.
"We've had great success using Artisan memory generators for customer designs that require the highest performance in density, speed and power", said Joseph Reynick, director, DFT and EDA solutions, eSilicon Corporation.
"Because these customers demand best-in-class technology, we're thrilled that we can now offer Artisan memories with Mentor Graphics MBISTArchitect to identify and repair manufacturing defects with premium, accurate test results without negatively impacting crucial design time".
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