Title :
Redundant core testing on the cell BE microprocessor
Author :
Iverson, David ; Dickinson, Dan ; Masson, John ; Newman-LaBounty, Christina ; Simmons, Daniel ; Tanona, William
Author_Institution :
Microelectron., IBM, Burlington, VT, USA
Abstract :
The Cell Broadband Engine chip, used in Sony´s PS/3 console, contains 8 identical processing cores. As only 7 of these are used in the PS/3™ application, this provides an opportunity for yield enhancement through use of this “spare” core. We are able to enjoy an 11% to 17% yield increase with this scheme, but its implementation drives about 20% of our test time and significant design and test complexity.
Keywords :
microprocessor chips; testing; PS/3 console; cell broadband engine chip; identical processing cores; redundant core testing;
Conference_Titel :
Test Conference (ITC), 2010 IEEE International
Conference_Location :
Austin, TX
Print_ISBN :
978-1-4244-7206-2
DOI :
10.1109/TEST.2010.5699206
