This paper revolves round the functional testing aspect of this phase. Presents case studies for post silicon debug of industrial soc designs. It is important to take the pre silicon methods and algorithms to post silicon validation. New algorithms and architectures for postsilicon validation. Postsilicon validation is a highly complex activity, with its own significant planning, exploration, and execution methodologies.
This solution provides modeling accuracy, high perfor mance, and remote access, simplifying the engineering task and dramatically improving. They employ onchip reconfigurable instruments that developers can insert and customize at design time for atspeed data acquisition, performance monitoring, stimulus, and fault injection functions, but are ultimately programmed postsilicon, while the system is in. Postsilicon validation is a complex and critical component of a modern systemonchip soc design verification. Pdf post silicon functional validation from an industrial perspective. To understand why postsilicon validation is challenging, consider a realworld postsilicon bug. Postsilicon validation is the process of in which the manufactured design chip is tested for all functional correctness in a lab setup. In general, postsilicon validation is the process of.
Running the same test in simulation and silicon may not produce the exact same behavior. Nov 19, 2019 the prototypes are mounted on the test boards and post silicon tests are performed. Postsilicon validation methodology in soc part 1 of 2. The challenges of postsilicon validation are continuously increasing, driven by higher levels of integration, increased circuit complexity, and platform performance requirements. Post silicon validation is not a new idea and has been used for many years in many places. Nov 01, 2016 while i dont have insights into nvidia post silicon validation team, but i have been part of post silicon validation as well as interfaced with post silicon validation team at other companies. Validation in the post silicon domain is predominantly carried out by executing constrainedrandom test instruction sequences directly on a hardware prototype. However, emulating hardware design has certain limitations. Even with very advanced presilicon verification tools, post silicon validation psv is one of the most crucial steps in ensuring the functional correctness of the chip design. Request pdf postsilicon validation and debug this book provides a comprehensive coverage of systemonchip soc postsilicon validation and debug challenges and stateoftheart solutions. A structured approach to postsilicon validation and debug. His research interests include embedded and cyberphysical systems, energyaware computing, hardware security and trust, systemonchip verification, bioinformatics, and postsilicon validation and debug. Post silicon validation is the process of in which the manufactured design chip is tested for all functional correctness in a lab setup. In post silicon validation, test program inputs may be known a priori bentley 01.
Due to sheer design complexity, it is nearly impossible to detect and fix all bugs before manufacture. A structured approach to postsilicon validation and debug using. Bridging presilicon verification and postsilicon validation and. A fuller discussion of post silicon validation, as well as the. At the same time, it poses several challenges to traditional validation methodologies, because of the limited internal observability and difficulty of applying modifications to manufactured silicon chips. There are different aspects to post silicon validation of socs and in general for any ic chip. Presilicon techniques such as simulation and emulation are limited in scope and. Code coverage for postsilicon validation mehdi karimibiuki embedded linux conference 20 san francisco, ca 22 feb, 20.
Validation of the soc is carried out in both pre silicon and post silicon phases. Post silicon validation is used to detect and fix bugs in integrated circuits and systems after manufacture. Post silicon peripherals validation diagnostics development, cpu, dsp and debug ip subsystem validation of iot and mobile soc for a tier1 semiconductor company graphics and display power validation, graphics validation, media power characterization and optimization, media decode, processing, encode pipeline validation for a tier1. Covers scalable postsilicon validation and bug localization using a combination of simulationbased techniques and formal methods. Post silicon validation is a highly complex activity, with its own significant planning, exploration, and execution methodologies. Apply to validation engineer, senior hardware engineer, entry level engineer and more. For the complex designs of today, traditional methods for psv will be very time consuming but these measures are unavoidable. A unified methodology for presilicon verification and post. Critical design bugs escape presilicon verification and are detected only during postsilicon validation adir 11, friedler 14. She wines at her more beautiful sister with tales of loss of system performance or odd intermittent failures. Fpga design, emulation and postsilicon validation top.
Post silicon validation, on the other hand, benefits from very high raw performance, since tests are executed directly on manufactured silicon. Covers scalable post silicon validation and bug localization using a combination of simulationbased techniques and formal methods. Postsilicon validation methodology in soc part 2 of 2. This phase also tries to check the functional correctness of the design but on the real hardware in the actual working environment. Trends in fpga testing and validation signal processing. Post silicon validation is a major challenge for future systems. Postsilicon validation, on the other hand, benefits from very high raw performance, since tests are executed directly on manufactured silicon. The team is wellled, closelyknit, and has received very good feedback from the industry. Validation is acknowledged as a major bottleneck in systemonchip soc design methodology. During post silicon validation, manufactured integrated circuits are extensively tested in actual system environments to detect design bugs. To identify design errors that escape pre silicon veri cation, post silicon validation is becoming an important step in the implementation ow of digital integrated circuits. Bridging pre silicon verification and post silicon validation.
Yerramilli, intel vp fab presilicon verification inadequate. Today, it is largely viewed as an art with very few systematic solutions. Transformations for postsilicon validation tests must not adversely degrade coverage. Bridging presilicon verification and postsilicon validation. The beauty of post silicon validation is, it runs at real system speed in the range of ghz, as the tests are performed on the real chips.
Postsilicon validation is used to detect and fix bugs in integrated circuits and systems after manufacture. It accounts for an estimated 70 per cent of overall time and resources spent on soc design validation. Before a silicon device is ready, postsilicon validation tests can be evaluated using rtl emulation. Postsilicon validation is a necessary step in a designs verification process. While ics are getting to market, the process is far from ideal. Coverage evaluation of postsilicon validation tests with. In postsilicon validation, test program inputs may be known a priori bentley 01. It includes a large number of interrelated activities each with its own nuance and subtleties, requires extensive planning, and spans the entire system design lifecycle. Presilicon instrumentation and atspeed postsilicon validation tools can enhance observability and control of internal signals. During postsilicon validation, manufactured integrated circuits are extensively tested in actual system environments to detect design bugs. Bridging pre silicon verification and postsilicon validation.
Postsilicon validation is a major bottleneck in soc design methodology. These are often due to onchip asynchronous events and electrical effects. Apr 22, 20 3intel corporationpostsilicon validation increasingly larger percentage of timetomoney design advances result in flatteningshrinking schedules better design toolsmethodologies more focus on integration vs. Postsilicon bug diagnosis with inconsistent executions. A fuller discussion of postsilicon validation, as well as the. She does not have the swish tools, beautiful methodologies and classy abstractions at her disposal like. Chapter 2 discusses about the post silicon testing setup of test chip 25 and the validation of the setup. Post silicon validation is a complex and critical component of a modern systemonchip soc design verification.
Post silicon validation is a vital phase of verification that deals with verification after the real silicon is in place. The post silicon validationpsv team at mirafra is a large group of technically strong engineers in the areas mentioned below. Intel corporation post silicon validation engineer. Post silicon validation is a major bottleneck in soc design methodology.
Electrical bug localization during postsilicon validation. Abstracta key problem in postsilicon validation is to identify a small set of traceable signals that are effective for debug during silicon execution. Traditional presilicon verification is inadequate for difficult logic bugs. Post silicon test plans are typically more elaborate than pre silicon plans, since these often target systemlevel usecases of the design that cannot be exercised during pre silicon validation. Post silicon validation is widely acknowledged as a major bottleneck for complex integrated circuits ics including modern microprocessors as well as complex systemonchip soc designs. So, this is very fast in comparison to the pre silicon verification phase. Intel corporation post silicon validation engineer interview. Part 2 discusses elaborately the various methods and parameters involving post silicon validation. His research interests include embedded and cyberphysical systems, energyaware computing, hardware security and trust, systemonchip verification, bioinformatics, and post silicon validation and debug. Postsilicon validation is a complex and critical component of a modern system onchip soc design verification.
Various industrial studies indicate that the postsilicon validation effort consumes more than 50% of an socs overall design effort. When a design passes from presilicon verification, few initial prototypes of the. Pre silicon addresses the validation of the hardware logic in its definition. Jun 07, 2019 there are different aspects to post silicon validation of socs and in general for any ic chip. In this session, we discuss how to bridge the presilicon verification to postsilicon validation and debug. It is important to take the presilicon methods and algorithms to postsilicon validation.
Postsilicon validation opportunities, challenges and. Describes automated techniques for generating post silicon tests and assertions to enable effective post silicon debug and coverage analysis. Postsilicon validation has significant overlap with presilicon design verification and manufacturing or production testing. This silicon is used, among other things, as an intermediate and. Recent studies suggest that post silicon validation consumes more than 50% of an socs overall design effort total cost at 65nm technology. Critical design bugs escape presilicon verification and are detected only during postsilicon validation adir 11, friedler 14, foster 15, keshava 10, mitra 10. Validation of the soc is carried out in both presilicon and postsilicon phases. Combining our expertise in fpga soc design verification and validation testing, we also offers a portfolio of custom verification ips for standard interfaces. Postsilicon validation and debug prabhat mishra springer. Postsilicon validation opportunities, challenges and recent.
The challenges of post silicon validation are continuously increasing, driven by higher levels of integration, increased circuit complexity, and platform performance requirements. Postsilicon validation is widely acknowledged as a major bottleneck for complex integrated circuits ics including modern microprocessors as well as complex systemonchip soc designs. Presents case studies for postsilicon debug of industrial soc designs. The post silicon validation psv team at mirafra is a large group of technically strong engineers in the areas mentioned below. This presents a unique opportunity for aggressive checking. The pressure of maintaining aggressive launch schedules and containing an increased cost of validation and debug, require a holistic approach to the entire. Functional validation fv is one among many methods used in. Pdf structural signal selection for postsilicon validation. Pre silicon techniques such as simulation and emulation are limited in scope and. Bug localization involves identification of a bug trace a sequence of inputs that activates and detects the bug and a hardware design block where the bug is located. The goal of validation is to deliver a bugfree product by exercising every cell of the. Prabhat mishra is a professor in the department of computer and information science and engineering at the university of florida. Mar 23, 2017 post silicon validation meaning post sili. Before a silicon device is ready, post silicon validation tests can be evaluated using rtl emulation.
The postsilicon validation that finds these failures appears to be presilicon verifications ugly sister. While i dont have insights into nvidia post silicon validation team, but i have been part of post silicon validation as well as interfaced with post silicon validation team at other companies. Hence, debugging a failure in this environment is laborious and timeconsuming 1. This step, also called whitebox testing, allows for high visibility into the design for debugging. Postsilicon validation of the memory subsystem in multicore designs andrew deorio, ilya wagner and valeria bertacco university of michigan. Postsilicon validation is not a new idea and has been used for many years in many places. Postsilicon validation and its challenges functional postsilicon validation strives to establish if the prototype adheres to its initial speci. Postsilicon validation and debug uf cise university of florida. Dac 2012 postsilicon debug june 7, 2012 public waiting for firstsilicon is not the solution to verification bottlenecks we need to shift as much as possible to the left while verification isnt perfect and scaling is an issue, postsilicon validation is not the only answer other presilicon methods augment verification. Chapter 3 describes the architecture and the test bench of the hermes along with its testing results. To identify design errors that escape presilicon veri cation, postsilicon validation is becoming an important step in the implementation ow of digital integrated circuits. Describes automated techniques for generating postsilicon tests and assertions to enable effective postsilicon debug and coverage analysis.
Quick error detection tests for effective postsilicon. Transformations for post silicon validation tests must not adversely degrade coverage. The postsil icon validation also known as blackbox testing has limited visibility in the design. Can someone share various aspects of postsilicon validation. Reaching coverage closure in postsilicon validation ibm research. Free interview details posted anonymously by intel corporation interview candidates. Postsilicon validation is deployed to capture the escaped bugs from the presilicon verification phase. Further, mirafra has got lab facilities and training sessions exclusively for psv engineers. Qed transformations may be optimized for the corresponding test inputs.
Recent studies suggest that postsilicon validation consumes more than 50% of an socs overall design effort total cost at 65nm technology. Postsilicon validation is an essential step to verify the proper functioning and operation of an soc, post manufacture. Unified coverage methodology for soc postsilicon validation. Post silicon validation psv of first silicon tends to be an ad hoc process, stitching together protocol testers from various manufacturers to create test cases and debug issues. Postsilicon validation is a major challenge for future systems. Test plan development starts concurrently with design planning. Post silicon validation is an essential step to verify the proper functioning and operation of an soc, post manufacture. To understand why postsilicon validation is challenging, consider a.
Post silicon validation is deployed to capture the escaped bugs from the pre silicon verification phase. It takes more than 50 per cent soc overall design effort. Pdf post silicon validation is the final process in semiconductor chip manufacturing. The pressure of maintaining aggressive launch schedules and containing an increased cost of validation and debug, require a holistic approach to the entire design and validation process. What is the work and scope of post silicon validation. Pdf bridging presilicon verification and postsilicon.
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