A new SoC test architecture with RF/wireless connectivity

When moving into the billion-transistor era, the direct or bus interconnects in conventional SoC test control models are rather restricted in not only system performance, but also signal integrity and transmission with continued scaling of the feature size. Recent advances in silicon integrated circuit technology are making possible tiny low-cost transceivers to be integrated on chip. In this paper, we propose a new distributed multihop wireless test control network based on the recent development in "radio-on-chip" technology. Under the multilevel tree structure, the system optimization is performed on control constrained resource partitioning and distribution. Several challenging system design issues, such as RF nodes placement, clustering, and routing are studied, with the integrated resource distribution and system optimization on TAM design and test scheduling. Experimental results show that the proposed algorithm can efficiently minimize the overall testing cost.