Parallel Waveform Analysis for Semiconductor Test Throughput
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Solution Overview
Problem
The increasing complexity of silicon chips and other semiconductors leads to a significant increase in the number of test scenarios and permutations, resulting in prolonged test times due to the sequential nature of waveform acquisition and analysis in conventional test and measurement systems.
Innovation Solution
Decoupling the tasks of waveform acquisition and analysis by performing them partially in parallel, allowing for simultaneous acquisition and analysis of multiple waveforms, thereby increasing test throughput and reducing overall test time.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If waveform acquisition and analysis are performed sequentially in conventional test systems, then the system structure remains simple and reliable, but the overall test time increases and test throughput decreases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent divides the conventional sequential waveform processing into separate acquisition and analysis tasks that can be executed independently. The oscilloscope acquires waveforms while a separate system performs analysis, allowing these tasks to run in parallel rather than sequentially, thereby reducing total test time and improving throughput.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent implements preliminary action by having the analysis system ready and waiting to process waveforms as soon as they are acquired. The analysis tasks are prepared in advance and can immediately begin processing acquired waveforms without waiting for the acquisition to fully complete, enabling overlapping of acquisition and analysis operations.
2Reliability
If the number of test scenarios increases to validate complex semiconductor designs, then validation completeness improves, but test time and complexity increase significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces an intermediary analysis system that acts as a mediator between the oscilloscope and the validation process. This separate analysis system handles the complex waveform analysis tasks, allowing the oscilloscope to focus on acquisition and enabling parallel processing of multiple test scenarios without increasing the complexity of individual test equipment.
3Productivity
If more waveforms are acquired and analyzed in parallel, then test throughput increases, but system resource requirements and complexity increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges the waveform acquisition function (oscilloscope) with the analysis function into a coordinated parallel system. By combining these previously separate sequential tasks into a unified parallel architecture, the system achieves higher throughput while managing complexity through integrated resource coordination and task management.
Data Source
AI summary
A test and measurement system for parallel waveform analysis acquires waveforms resulting from performing tests on a device under test (DUT) and performs, at least partially in parallel, respective analyses of the waveforms resulting from performing tests on the DUT. The system also acquires a first waveform resulting from performing a first test with an oscilloscope on a DUT and performs analysis of the first waveform at least partially in parallel with acquiring a second waveform. Additionally, the system tracks a plurality of testing assets using inventory information of a plurality of testing equipment on the network and enables remote users to access equipment logs and results of the respective analyses of the waveforms stored on a cloud computing system for performance of analytics.