DFT MAX reduces digital tester costs for CSR

BANGALORE: CSR Plc, a provider of the hardware/software

single-chip wireless solutions BlueCore for Bluetooth applications and UniFi for

802.11/Wi-Fi/Wireless LAN, has used Synopsis' DFT MAX to reduce digital tester

costs, according to the semiconductor design software firm, Synopsys, Inc.






A Synopsis statements said that CSR needed a design-for-test solution that would
meet its high quality goals, yet would be easy to implement and have minimal

silicon area overhead. DFT MAX was deployed as part of the Synopsys Galaxy

Design Platform and achieved 90 per cent digital test time/test data reduction

for several BlueCore designs. When the devices were fabricated, the test

patterns were applied successfully to validate the silicon.






“We needed very high quality levels for our high-volume manufactured designs
to minimize the number of field escapes,” said James Collier, chief technical

officer and co-founder of CSR. “At the same time, we wanted to avoid a

corresponding increase in tester costs, if possible. Using DFT MAX to reduce

digital test data volume by 90 per cent, we were able to add DSM testing to our

test suite to further increase quality without the need for expensive tester

hardware upgrades. Moreover, reduction in test execution time achieved by DFT

MAX actually decreased our overall tester costs.”






“Working seamlessly as part of the Galaxy Design Platform, DFT MAX predictably
reduces test costs by up to 50x compared with traditional scan techniques. The

key advantage of DFT MAX is that it is easy to implement and is far less

intrusive on design flows and design performance than alternative solutions. The

Galaxy platform delivers design engineers a single environment for synthesis,

physical implementation, and sign-off. Concurrent optimization for timing,

signal integrity, area, power, and test within the Galaxy environment helps

eliminate costly and time-consuming design iterations between front-end and

back-end flows,” Synopsis said.