Tessent

Tessent is the Siemens EDA family of design-for-test (DFT) and silicon lifecycle tools. It puts test structures into a chip during design, generates the patterns that test it in manufacturing, diagnoses the parts that fail, and keeps testing and monitoring the chip after it ships.

Siemens describes Tessent Silicon Lifecycle Solutions as helping teams “deliver a faster time to market by reducing design complexity using high-quality DFT,” with “advanced debug, safety & security features and in-life data analytics.” GSAS Micro Systems supplies Tessent in India with local application engineering for DFT flow integration, automotive safety and production test.

The Four Tessent Solution Areas

Siemens organises Tessent into four solution areas. Each one maps to a stage of a chip’s life.

Tessent Advanced DFT: Test Structures and Patterns

This is where most DFT engineers spend their time. Siemens lists the following products under Tessent Test Solutions:

Streaming Scan Network for large SoCs and chiplets

For large SoCs built from many cores, the hard part of DFT is getting scan data to every core without the chip-level test architecture dictating every core’s design. Siemens describes Tessent SSN as eliminating “the difficult and costly trade-offs between test implementation effort and manufacturing test cost by decoupling core-level and chip-level DFT requirements.” Siemens’ Tessent Test Solutions page notes that SSN won the Siemens Innovator of the Year 2022 award for Outstanding Invention.

Tessent for Automotive: ISO 26262 and In-System Test

Automotive ICs must be tested not only in the factory but during the vehicle’s life, to catch latent faults. Siemens’ Tessent Safety and Security pages state:

• ISO 26262 tool certification: “for each release there is an ISO 26262 certification that ensure the tools are suitable for use with Automotive projects.”
• BIST as a safety mechanism: “Both Memory BIST and Logic BIST are great technologies to use as a safety mechanism, as they provide extremely high diagnostics coverage with minimal area.”
• In-field test: the MissionMode in-system test controller lets teams run system tests in many different scenarios while the device is in its target application.

Siemens introduced Tessent In-System Test on 5 November 2024, describing it as working with Tessent SSN so customers can “apply embedded deterministic test patterns in-system throughout a product’s lifecycle.” Patterns generated with Tessent TestKompress are applied through standard APB or AXI bus interfaces. Siemens names automotive, aerospace and medical devices as the industries where this matters most.

Tessent Yield Learning: Diagnosis After Manufacturing

When parts fail production test, the question becomes why. Siemens lists three tools:

• Tessent Diagnosis applies “layout-aware and cell-aware diagnosis technologies to accurately classify and identify the location of defects causing failures during manufacturing tests.”
• Tessent YieldInsight removes noise from diagnosis data to find systematic yield limiters and pick the best devices for failure analysis.
• Tessent SiliconInsight speeds test bring-up, debug and silicon characterisation of devices that contain Tessent test structures.

Tessent Embedded Analytics

Siemens describes Tessent Embedded Analytics as functional monitoring that enables “processor and system-wide trace and debug in real-time and post-deployment analytics for complex System-on-Chips.” It includes Tessent UltraSight-V for RISC-V debug and trace, and Tessent UltraSight for wider SoC monitoring. Siemens states the solution is processor-agnostic.

Who Uses Tessent in India

• SoC and ASIC DFT teams inserting scan, compression and BIST and generating ATPG patterns before tapeout.
• Automotive semiconductor teams that need ISO 26262 in-system test and fault grading.
• Product and test engineering teams diagnosing production failures and ramping yield.
• RISC-V and SoC validation teams that need on-chip trace and debug.

How GSAS Supports Tessent Teams in India

GSAS Micro Systems is an authorized Siemens EDA partner in India and a value added distributor/reseller for Siemens EDA products. We have a dedicated FAE team ready to help you with custom built solutions matching your needs. Our application engineers work with DFT and test teams in Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Chennai, Pune, Mumbai and Delhi NCR on:

• DFT flow integration: fitting Tessent into your synthesis and implementation flow.
• Automotive safety: planning in-system test and BIST as safety mechanisms for ISO 26262 programmes.
• Production test: pattern generation, test time reduction and diagnosis set-up.
• Licensing and procurement: INR quotes with GST invoicing for the Tessent configuration your flow needs.

Tessent works alongside other Siemens IC tools we supply: Questa One, whose Sim DX engine accelerates DFT pattern verification with Tessent and whose Sim FX engine handles fault simulation, and Calibre for physical signoff. See the full Siemens EDA partner page.

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References

• Siemens, Tessent Silicon Lifecycle Solutions
• Siemens, Tessent Test Solutions
• Siemens, Tessent Safety and Security
• Siemens, Tessent Yield Learning
• Siemens, Tessent Embedded Analytics
• Siemens press release, Siemens’ Tessent In-System Test software enables advanced, deterministic testing throughout the silicon lifecycle, 5 November 2024