SynTest, Intellitech add BIST products

SynTest, Intellitech add BIST products
By Richard Goering, EE Times
June 26, 2002 (7:23 p.m. EST)
URL: http://www.eetimes.com/story/OEG20020626S0033

SUNNYVALE, Calif. — Expanding the scope of built-in self test (BIST), SynTest Technologies Inc. has introduced a diagnostic product for embedded memories, while Intellitech Corp. has rolled out a dedicated processor that plugs into a pc-board. The products demonstrate the increasing application of BIST technology to embedded memories and sometimes logic in chip and board-level systems.

SynTest said its TurboDebug SoC/Memory product reduces the cost of test and debug for systems-on-chip (SoC) designs with large embedded memories. Through pull-down menus, it tests and diagnoses failures for SRAM and ROM embedded memory with BIST features. The product then displays error types and shows their locations.

The product operates on a PC that runs Linux and has a PCI slot. TurboDebug SoC/Memory comes with a demo system board and an interface board, which plugs into the PCI slot. Communication between t he PC and a chip under test is through a JTAG connection.

TurboDebug SoC/Memory will be available for production shipment at the end of 2002. It's part of SynTest's TurboDebug product line, with prices starting at $50,000.

Configuration processor

Meanwhile, Intellitech has announced the SystemBIST Embedded Test and Configuration Processor, which is used for deterministic BIST, as well as FPGA or CPLD in-system configuration, on single pc-boards or in multiple pc-board systems.

The SystemBIST chip can program any IEEE 1532- or IEEE 1149.1-compliant programmable device. It holds test and configuration data in flash memory, and provides deterministic, embedded tests with automatic diagnostic error codes. It supports third-party boundary scan tools through the SVF standard vector format.

SystemBIST is available now in a standalone 144-pin TQFP, and can also be licensed as silicon intellectual property in VHDL or Verilog for SoCs. Evaluation systems with reference designs are also available.