Date: 25th Aug 2010
Ricoh lauds Mentor's tool for improvement
in test coverage and throughput
Ricoh has employed Mentor Graphics' Tessent TestKompress
solution for an RF product currently under development.
Ricoh aims to achieve full coverage in final IC testing
using only three I/O pins by using this test solution. Ricoh
also says that the solution reduces the number of pattern
loads needed for complete testing from ten to only four,
providing a 60% reduction in manufacturing test time.
Previously we were unable to meet our objective of
100% scan test overage during final package test because
we were severely limited in the number of I/O pins available
for testing, said Fumiaki Kadowaki, Manager in Ricohs
Imaging System LSI Development Center, CAD Engineering Section.
Tessent TestKompress provided an alternative that
allowed us to continue to use our existing test equipment,
reduce the SCAN test interface to only three pins, and still
reduce our test time. In addition, the Mentor solution provides
us with excellent test failure diagnosis capability based
on normal production test data, without having to run special
failure analysis runs on failed parts.
The new test flow plans to overcome previous limitations
of test equipment hardware, test pattern generation software
and test pin availability by employing Embedded Deterministic
Test (EDT) technology in the TestKompress tool. This approach
combines on-chip circuitry (generated by TestKompress in
RTL) and test pattern generation algorithms to load highly
compressed test patterns onto the chip with only a few I/O
channels. Using one pin for scan-in, one for scan-out, one
for clock and two for test mode control, the solution manages
to reduce the number of pattern loads form ten to four due
to the high compression achieved using Tessent TestKompress.
Our customers are realizing fundamental improvements
in test coverage and test throughput, thus improving test
quality and reducing cost at the same time, said Greg
Aldrich, Director of Marketing for Mentors silicon
test solutions. With the ability to operate from a
single scan channel and still provide very high levels of
test time and data compression, Tessent TestKompress offers
the flexibility to effectively test the broad range of devices
with varying requirements that exist in todays markets.
Mentor's Tessent TestKompress uses a patented on-chip compression
technique to create scan pattern sets that have reduce test
data volume and test time on the automatic test equipment.
|