Delivering improved area overhead and ease-of-adoption for memory and logic BIST, VHDL support and desktop silicon characterization and diagnostics
"The IC market is under intense profit pressures, resulting in an increased emphasis on reducing all cost components. Reduction in cost per function is driving higher gate density, driving the growth of 65nm and 45nm design starts," said James T. Healy, President and CEO of LogicVision. "The new Dragonfly Test Platform will provide our customers with the key test, silicon bring-up and yield-ramp capabilities they need to meet rapidly increasing cost, quality, and schedule pressures."
Dragonfly Test Platform
The Dragonfly Test Platform is LogicVision's next generation of fully integrated embedded test solutions for manufacturing test, silicon bring-up and failure analysis of advanced SoC devices. Dragonfly delivers a comprehensive hierarchical BIST infrastructure covering memory, logic, and both regular and high-speed device I/Os. The BIST infrastructure is integrated using an advanced design automation tool flow fully compatible with all major EDA flows. Once in silicon, the BIST capabilities provide the most efficient quality versus test time trade-off of any manufacturing test methodology, enabling the most cost efficient single-digit DPM (defects-per-million) quality levels in the industry. The BIST capabilities can also be coupled with desktop or ATE-based diagnostic tools for accelerated silicon bring-up and failure analysis activities, both key in meeting shrinking product windows.
Efficient Memory BIST
The latest release of ETMemory(TM) within the Dragonfly Test Platform continues to improve an already best-in-class embedded memory test solution, delivering the most efficient memory BIST and self-repair solution in the industry. Depending on test requirements of individual memories, the new solution can implement either a very compact fixed-algorithm BIST engine or a more versatile fully programmable BIST engine. The combined enhancements deliver up to 30% reduction in area overhead. Both engine types support a self-repair option and are fully integrated into all of LogicVision's automated diagnostic and yield analysis solutions. The Dragonfly test platform also includes VHDL language support for memory BIST.
Streamlined Logic BIST
The latest release of ETLogic(TM) within the Dragonfly Test Platform delivers several new enhancements and capabilities aimed at significantly improving ease-of-adoption. These include a new and more efficient RTL rule checking engine for easy adoption by RTL designers; up to 20% area overhead reduction through simplification of scan control logic; and the capability to combine logic BIST with legacy cores that only support traditional scan based testing including support for double-capture at-speed test.
Advanced Diagnostics and Characterization
Silicon Insight(TM)-desktop provides comprehensive at-speed SoC device-level debug and characterization using a PC laptop connected to a device performance board through a USB-to-JTAG cable interface. The latest release of Silicon Insight adds support for GPIB-based bench top equipment, enabling design and test engineers to perform voltage and frequency based characterization from a laptop PC. Silicon Insight now makes it possible to perform full device debug, diagnostics and characterization without the need to access or tie-up expensive automatic test equipment.
On the production floor, Silicon Insight-ATE now adds the option to perform automated production data logging, enabling design teams and their foundry partners to analyze detailed failure and performance data. The production data log can be used with LogicVision's Yield Insight(TM) tool to identify systemic yield limiting issues and help accelerate product yield ramps.
Availability
The latest enhancements to the Dragonfly Test Platform are in limited availability now and will be in full production in Q3, 2008.
About LogicVision Inc.
LogicVision (NASDAQ: LGVN) provides proprietary technologies for embedded test and yield learning that enable more efficient manufacturing test of complex semiconductors. LogicVision's embedded test solutions allow integrated circuit designers to embed test functionality into a semiconductor design that is used during semiconductor production test and throughout the useful life of the chip. The company's advanced Design for Test (DFT) product line, ETCreate(TM), works together with Silicon Insight(TM) applications and Yield Insight(TM) to improve profit margins by reducing device field returns and test costs, accelerating silicon bring-up times and shortening both time to market and time to yield. For more information on the company and its products, please visit the LogicVision website at www.logicvision.com
FORWARD LOOKING STATEMENTS: Except for the historical information contained herein, the matters set forth in this press release, including statements as to the Company's outlook, expectations of customer renewals, the Company's ability to obtain purchase orders from new customers, new customer expansion in use of the Company's products, and increases in the adoption of the Company's products by existing customers, interest in the Company's products, trends in capital spending in the semiconductor industry, the Company's expected financial results, including revenues, net loss, and cash, cash equivalents and investments and the Company's ability to achieve positive cash flow and profitability are forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially, including, but not limited to, the possibility that orders could be modified or cancelled, existing customer orders may not be renewed, existing customers may not expand their use of the Company's products or increase their adoption of the Company's products, new customers may not adopt or expand their use of the Company's products, the ability of the Company to negotiate and sign customer agreements and obtain purchase orders, trends in capital spending in the semiconductor industry, the timing and nature of customer orders, whether customers accept the Company's new and existing products, the impact of competitive products and alternative technological advances, and other risks detailed in LogicVision's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2007 and from time to time in LogicVision's SEC reports. These forward-looking statements speak only as of the date hereof. LogicVision disclaims any obligation to update these forward-looking statements.
LogicVision, ETCreate, ScanBurst, ETMemory, Silicon Insight, Yield Insight, Dragonfly Test Platform and LogicVision logos are trademarks or registered trademarks of LogicVision Inc. in the United States and other countries. All other company or product names are the registered trademarks or trademarks of their respective owners.