2-IC Lifecycle from fundamental of ic chip testing
- 1. 10/03/2025 19EC37E – FUNDAMENTALS OF SEMICONDUCTOR CHIP TESTING PRESENTED BY, Dr.I.VIVEK ANAND, Assistant Professor(Senior Grade) / ECE, -National Engineering College, K.R.Nagar, Kovilpatti. 1
- 2. “ ” 10/03/2025 2 Life cycle of Integrated Circuits (IC)
- 3. 10/03/2025 3 Lifecycle of IC Design specification Design Fabrication Packaging Quality assurance Design verification Wafer test Package test Final test
- 6. 10/03/2025 6 System Specification The process of specifying the functional specifications (or requirements) of the system (IC) and defining its external interfaces.
- 7. 10/03/2025 7 Architecture Design Once the system specification is decided, the process of designing the architecture of the system starts. This includes creating the intellectual property (IP) blocks, and defining the software interfaces, timing, performance, area, and power constraints.
- 8. 10/03/2025 8 Architecture Verification The process of building a software version of the hardware system. Created from functional models using high-level languages like C, C++, or SystemC. The architecture, performance, and power of the entire system are evaluated using software debuggers.
- 9. 10/03/2025 9 Formal Verification – Property Checking A formal verification method called property checking is used to prove that the implemented system model meets the design requirements (or specifications). The system requirements and the mathematical model are compared using a model checker to confirm that the system meets the requirements.
- 10. 10/03/2025 10 Design Entry The process of capturing the complete system design using hardware design languages (HDLs), such as VHDL and Verilog, and/or schematic capture. The design contains the details of the IC input and output pins, IP block instantiations, design connectivity, clock and reset strategy, and so on.
- 11. 10/03/2025 11 Functional Simulation The process of verifying the functional behavior of the design using a software simulator. It verifies the IC level connectivity, IP blocks in the IC-level environment, end-to-end functional paths, pad connectivity, inter-module interaction, external module interaction. The testbench is a set of codes that check whether (or not) the RTL implementation meets the design specification.
- 12. 10/03/2025 12 Formal Verification – Equivalence Checking The process of verifying the correctness of the design statically employing mathematical methods and without using any stimulus or timing checks. A formal verification method called equivalence checking is used to find the functional equivalence of a design by comparing it with the golden design.
- 13. 10/03/2025 13 Synthesis The process of converting the design's RTL code into an optimized gate- level representation, given a technology library and design constraints. The following steps are performed in synthesis: Translation Optimization Technology mapping
- 14. 10/03/2025 14 Static Timing Analysis (STA) The process of verifying the timing characteristics of a design without providing any stimulus. STA is fast and exhaustive, but it doesn't check the functionality of the design. It is performed in various stages of the IC design cycle
- 15. 10/03/2025 15 Design for Test (DFT) The process of manufacturing an IC is not 100% error- free. Extra logic, known as Design for Test (DFT) logic, has to be inserted in the design to aid in post-production testing of the IC to identify manufacturing defects. When an IC is manufactured, it is first checked for any manufacturing defects with the help of the DFT logic. If there are no manufacturing defects, then the IC is checked for functional correctness.
- 16. 10/03/2025 16 Pre-Layout Simulation Before the gate-level netlist is sent for physical layout, it is verified for functional and timing behavior by software applications.
- 17. 10/03/2025 17 Physical Layout Physical layout is the transition from the logical view of the IC to the physical view. The output of the physical layout process is a Graphical Database System (GDSII) file, which is a binary file format representing planar geometrical shapes, text labels, and other information related to the physical layout. The steps performed in physical layout are as follows: Floor planning Partitioning Place and Route Clock Tree Synthesis
- 18. 10/03/2025 18 Post – Layout Simulation Post-layout simulation is the process of verifying the design after the physical layout of the design has been established. The checks performed in post-layout simulation are as follows: Design Rule Check (DRC) Electrical Rule Check (ERC) Layout Vs. Schematic (LVS)
- 19. 10/03/2025 19 IC Fabrication After Post-layout simulation the layout netlist in the form of a GDSII file, is provided to the IC manufacturer (foundry). The process of providing the GDSII file to the foundry is called tapeout.
- 20. 10/03/2025 20 IC Tester IC manufacturing isn't 100% reliable, resulting in many samples that have manufacturing defects. Once the IC is received from the foundry, a tester is used to filter the defective ICs. The tester provides input stimulus to the IC and verifies the output. It also verifies the electrical and thermal characteristics of the IC and finds the ideal operating conditions.
- 21. 10/03/2025 21 Post Silicon Validation The samples that pass the tester are validated in a real environment. This is called post-silicon validation. In post-silicon validation, the IC is configured using a software tool on a computer and the test code is downloaded into the IC. The expected output is monitored, and all the features of the IC are verified.
- 22. 10/03/2025 22 Design Phase • Architectural level testing • Gate level testing • Transistor level testing • Layout
- 23. 10/03/2025 23 Types of Testing • WAFER SORTING • PACKAGE LEVEL TESTING • CHARACTERISATION TEST
- 24. 10/03/2025 24 IC Packages • DUAL INLINE PACKAGE • SMALL OUTLINE PACKAGES • QUAD FLAT PACKAGE • BALL GRID ARRAY
- 26. 10/03/2025 26 Small Outline Package A thin small outline package (TSOP) is an IC component that consists of a rectangular shape with small pins along the horizontal edges. TSOPs are common on ICs that power RAM and flash memory.