Is your silicon reliable? A system approach of silicon qualification methodology

An interactive custom silicon qualification methodology is presented to address the reliability and quality challenges faced by system companies and their custom silicon component suppliers. The methodology helps to increase transparency and mutual understanding, and also to identify gaps and set appropriate expectations between them. Two XBOX 360 case studies are described to demonstrate the benefits of the interactive qualification methodology with silicon suppliers compared to an independent and decoupled qualification effort from silicon suppliers without consideration of system requirements. A Kinect CMOS image sensor case study shows the effectiveness of the proposed interactive system approach of silicon qualification methodology, and its implementation that leads to a win-win situation for both the system and component companies. A new CMOS image sensor qualification methodology is introduced.