The Last Bastion Of DFT Tradition Falls : DeFacTo Technologies Introduces RTL Scan Insertion

It had to happen. Someone would eventually come up with a way to insert scan onto RTL. Turns out that someone is DeFacTo Technologies of France. The tool is called HiDFT-Scan.

In some ways, this is a great idea:

• Scan insertion would be fast (as it works with RTL)
• Synthesis step between RTL ECOs and scan insertion is avoided
• Scan insertion is process/technology independent and can be ported easily to new nodes

But there are some questions that need to be answered:

• The change of methodology proposed is quite drastic. What's the easiest way adopt this flow in a phased manner?
• Is HiDFT-Scan physically-aware when it comes to scan insertion?
• Other EDA vendors are very much ahead in the DFT game and have very compelling DFT technologies. Synopsys has adaptive scan. Mentor has TestKompress. Will we have to abandon these vendors or will DeFacTo play well with others?

Tags : DFT, ASIC,scan insertion, EDA, DeFacTo