The Challenge of Testing the ARM CORTEX-A8/sup TM/ Microprocessor Core

The DFT and test challenges faced, and the solutions applied, to the Cortex-A8 microprocessor core are described in this paper. New DFT techniques have been created to address the challenges of distributing a DFT core solution that ultimately end up in many different environments. This core comprises synthesized, hand-mapped, hand-placed (HMHP) and custom blocks. A DFT solution had to be created that could be utilized by a multitude of customers