DFT Digest

Remember in my last post, where I told you how weird it was to suddenly be seeing all these references to 3D ID design technology? Well it didn’t stop. Literally, the day I posted that entry, I got the new issue of IEEE Design & Test – a special issue on, you guessed it: 3D IC Design and Test.

The same day, I was cleaning my desk, and found a couple of papers that I had printed out a couple of months ago and forgot about, from DATE ‘09. One was entitled Test Architecture and Optimization for Three-Dimensional SoC’s.

Sometimes a post just begs to be written. Subconsciously, little reminders crop up in your input stream (a.k.a. eyes and ears) that prod you into doing something. Last week, like a Hitchcock blonde, it seemed like every time I turned around, something referring to 3-D technology popped out at me. I think it started when I began searching for material on JTAG implementations for MCMs…

Really, goodbye Summer – had enough of you. Sorry, I’m a spoiled Southern Californian: can’t stand the heat, or the cold. [I started this post over a week ago, when summer ended] Many people claim we have no seasons here in SoCal, but as a native, I feel them. Maybe it has to do with the cast of the sun, or maybe it’s just a combination of many different subtle cues (many colored trees, like those to the left are not really in the picture around here). Whatever it is, I look forward to the transition seasons, especially autumn.

The 2009 International Test Conference was formally announced earlier this week. In November, the conference makes its return to Austin, TX – site of ITC 2005, the first ITC held west of the Mississippi. Now, normally I normally rifle through the advance program (which in a fit of green, I printed out 2 pages per side, and realized my eyes are way to old to actually read that!), and blog about what I think is interesting.

This year, I thought I’d poll some of the organizers of the event to see what piqued their interest in what they were planning for ITC this year.

It feels good to be right… it does happen sometimes. Back in May, when Mentor Graphics announced its intentions to acquire LogicVision, most folks writing about the deal pointed out a significant overlap in the product offerings of the two companies – surely the move didn’t make much sense (but to be fair, none of them know much about the DFT market). I first blogged the news here, and again here, in response to the overlap arguments. My feeling was that LogicVision brought strengths in some product areas where Mentor was flagging. And, I was right.