Dafca-ACTL truck for IC analysis

BANGALORE, INDIA: Aimed at kicking off an instrumentation-enhanced failure analysis for IC yield improvement, Dafca Inc has entered into a partnership with Advanced Chip Test Laboratory (ACTL) at Carnegie Mellon University. Dafca is a provider of programmable IP, embedded security for system and device assurance, and software solutions that automate and accelerate ASIC and FPGA validation.

As part of the project, researchers are expected to explore the synergies between Dafca's ClearBlue on-chip instrumentation technology and ACTL's test-data mining research in the areas of failure analysis, diagnosis and yield, said a statement from Dafca. The Advanced Chip Test Lab is into research, development and implementation of new methodologies for detecting, characterizing, and coping with integrated circuit failures.

It has been pointed out by Dafca that its expertise in examining the intricacies of IC operation through on-chip instrumentation complements ACTL's research efforts. ACTL's goal would be to improve chip design and fabrication, and tools such as Dafca's ClearBlue would aid the initiative. Dafca's ClearBlue solution includes a library of customisable instruments that can be inserted into the chip design via the Clear Blue Instrumentation Studio. A report added that ACTL will use the ClearBlue Instrumentation Studio and ClearBlue Silicon Validation Studio to set up triggers and assertions, capture data, apply on-chip stimulus, control scan chains and access data on instruments using JTAG ports.

ClearBlue incorporates DAFCA's patented, reprogrammable fabric to provide users with a framework for automating hardware and embedded software validation through a combination of programmable on-chip instrumentation and off-chip analysis tools and applications. ClearBlue enables companies to achieve significant cost savings and productivity gains by allowing users to instrument and observe all critical segments of the design, including key buses, interfaces, and state machines for complex ASIC or SoC designs.

Considering the fact that ACTL has been aiding the chip industry with valuable information for so many years now, the Dafca partnership is seen as a major initiative in research.