Reconfigurable tester hardware extends JTAG/boundary scan applications while simplifying ate setup

Boundary Scan (often also referred to as JTAG) as defined in IEEE Std. 1149.1 has been adopted by many design and test engineers as test methodology for prototype verification and for production testing. This successful and powerful technology has a few limitations, though, some of which can be overcome with newer test standards, such as IEEE 1149.4 and IEEE 1149.6. Still, practically all electronic products need to undergo a functional test before they leave the manufacturing floor. Functional tests, however, require manual, labor intensive and costly test development and often times ad-hoc test equipment configurations. This paper discusses the benefits of combining boundary scan tools with functional test equipment, with a focus on extended boundary scan applications based on reconfigurable tester hardware.