Architecture for Testing Multi-Voltage Domain SOC

In portable applications power consumption is a key parameter to commercial success. Mobile phone standby time, talk time and MP3 player play time are key customer parameters. With ever decreasing technology nodes, this static leakage current is becoming predominant. It is becoming a real issue for standalone devices. One of the solutions is to embed power switches in the device in order to switch off the blocks that are not used. The challenge is then to test and validate those power switches on the production line. This paper shows a practical case study, detailing the implemented DFT architecture solutions and the measurements achieved on test systems.