Post-Silicon Validation: Opportunities, Challenges and Recent Advances

Subhasish Mitra, Sanjit A. Seshia, and Nicola Nicolici. Post-Silicon Validation: Opportunities, Challenges and Recent Advances. In Proceedings of the Design Automation Conference (DAC), pp. 12–17, June 2010.

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Abstract

Post-silicon validation is used to detect and fix bugs in integrated circuits and systems after manufacture. Due to sheer design complexity, it is nearly impossible to detect and fix all bugs before manufacture. Post-silicon validation is a major challenge for future systems. Today, it is largely viewed as an art with very few systematic solutions. As a result, post-silicon validation is an emerging research topic with several exciting opportunities for major innovations in electronic design automation. In this paper, we provide an overview of the post-silicon validation problem and how it differs from traditional pre-silicon verification and manufacturing testing. We also discuss major post-silicon validation challenges and recent advances.

BibTeX

@inproceedings{mitra-dac10,
 author = {Subhasish Mitra and Sanjit A. Seshia and Nicola Nicolici},
 title = "Post-Silicon Validation: Opportunities, Challenges and Recent Advances",
 booktitle = "Proceedings of the Design Automation Conference (DAC)", 
 pages = "12--17", 
 month = "June", 
 year = "2010",
 abstract = {
Post-silicon validation is used to detect and fix bugs in integrated circuits and systems after manufacture. Due to sheer design complexity, it is nearly impossible to detect and fix all bugs before manufacture. Post-silicon validation is a major challenge for future systems. Today, it is largely viewed as an art with very few systematic solutions. As a result, post-silicon validation is an emerging research topic with several exciting opportunities for major innovations in electronic design automation. In this paper, we provide an overview of the post-silicon validation problem and how it differs from traditional pre-silicon verification and manufacturing testing. We also discuss major post-silicon validation challenges and recent advances.  },
}