Over the recent years, SOCs have become more advanced and popular in demand. The combination of MCU and RF/Analog blocks allows for great programmability and thus for software to run on the IC itself. Additionally, SOCs have improved their built-in self-tests (BIST) mechanisms, hence, a lot of measurements usually done using external equipment, can also be done using the BIST. At the moment we have implemented a tool which can be used to quickly develop tests and measurements while minimizing the number of resources, i.e., external equipment, required to perform such measurements. Analog designers can write their own tests which can be used to support other teams. Additionally, regression tests can be created for a quick analysis of a sample, for example when returned from the factory or from customers, to identify possible problems and consequently to determine a root cause for these problems.
The tool we developed and are using at the moment can be used for several different ICs, however, the developed tests for one project cannot be used for other projects, thus, each project has their own library of functions. For an upcoming project we are looking for a student who can support us in the development of such function library, and with the development of tests using the already existing functions.
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