What is post-silicon validation?

What is post-silicon validation?

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.

What is pre and post-silicon?

During the pre-silicon process, engineers test devices in a virtual environment with sophisticated simulation and emulation tools. In contrast, post-silicon validation tests occur on actual devices running at-speed in commercial, real-world system boards.

What is pre-silicon validation?

Pre-silicon Validation. Pre-silicon validation is generally performed at a chip, multi-chip or system level. The objective of pre-silicon validation is to verify the correctness and sufficiency of the design.

What is the role of post silicon validation engineer?

As a Post Silicon Validation Engineer ( Server and Client Microprocessor Hardware), you are required to create, define and develop system validation environment & test suites optimized for a CPU or its subsystems like memory controller, Power management, PCIe, USB/TCSS, Serial IO, Graphics, media, audio and other …

What does a post silicon validation engineer do?

Responsibilities : As a PCIe PHY Systems Engineer, you will drive the planning, verification, and debug of various hardware IP as well as supporting the debug and functional tests of the PCIe PHY and its interfaces with other hardware IP for forthcoming AMD APU, CPU, Compute and Discrete Graphics SOC programs.

What is Post-Silicon Validation in VLSI?

Abstract: Generally, VLSI Circuits are very complex due to the technology scaling. Post-silicon validation is a critical part of Integrated Circuits. It is the process of finding the bugs that have escaped from the pre-silicon phase.

What is post-silicon characterization?

Post-silicon validation, i.e., physical characterization of a small number of fabricated circuit instances before start of high-volume manufacturing, has become an essential step in integrated circuit production.

Is testing validation or verification?

It is the process to ensure whether the product that is developed is right or not. It verifies whether the developed product fulfills the requirements that we have. Verification is static testing….Differences between Verification and Validation.

Verification Validation
Verification is the static testing. Validation is the dynamic testing.

What is a firmware engineer?

The firmware engineers are the ones who are primarily involved with integrating hardware and firmware together and conducting system tests using near-final hardware and firmware. During this phase, they will occasionally encounter problems that require help from the hardware engineers.

What does a post-silicon validation engineer do?

What does a silicon validation engineer do?

You will lead the laboratory debug of failures with cross-functional teams (Silicon, Boards, Software, Manufacturing). You will measure and optimize performance of silicon, enabling consistent and compelling use-cases in our products.

What is the objective of post-silicon validation?

The objective of post-silicon validation is to ensure that the silicon design works properly under actual operating conditions while executing real software, and identify and fix errors that may have been missed during pre-silicon validation. Complexity of post-silicon validation arises from the physical nature of the validation target.

Why are there so fewer silicon spins available for validation?

And with reduced time-to-market, the number of silicon spins available for validation has decreased dramatically. When an error is found in silicon, other errors are detected in the same silicon spin. In fact, tools, flows and design instrumentations have been incrementally accumulated over time in response to specific challenges or requirements.

What is validation in SoC design?

Validation is widely acknowledged as a major bottle- neck in the SoC design methodology, accounting for an estimated 70 percent of overall time and resources spent on the SoC design validation [3].

Are bare-metal exercisers suitable for post-silicon validation?

Bare-metal exercisers possess a list of attributes that make them highly suitable for post-silicon validation. Bare-metal exercisers are inherently “self-contained,” meaning that once the exerciser shift is loaded onto the plat- form, be it an accelerator or a silicon one, it can run “forever” with no interaction with the environment.