Microchip test environment
Keskinen, Roope (2022)
2022
Master's Programme in Electrical Engineering
Informaatioteknologian ja viestinnän tiedekunta - Faculty of Information Technology and Communication Sciences
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Hyväksymispäivämäärä
2022-10-06
Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:tuni-202209207172
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:tuni-202209207172
Tiivistelmä
With the ever-increasing demand for more powerful chips, it is necessary to integrate multiple circuits inside a chip. These chips are called a system on a chip (SoC). Even though SoCs integrate more and more functionality inside a single chip they still require a printed circuit board which at least provides power and input and output connectors.
Tampere University together with multiple companies started SoC Hub project. The goal of this project is to develop a system on a chip and increase Finnish system on a chip design expertise. The target is to develop one system on a chip in a year with three SoCs in total. The goal of this master’s thesis is to design a printed circuit board that can be used to test the first iteration of the SoC.
Printed circuit boards which are designed for testing have three main functions: provide power, provide input and output connectors and their circuitry, and to make testing as easy as possible. This system on a chip requires three different power rails, which must be turned on and off in a sequence and they must also be monitored in case of a fault. For this purpose, a power management system was developed in which a microcontroller monitors and controls the power rails. On the printed circuit board most of the input and output connectors use pin headers. The pin headers make testing easy as most signals are available in simple pin headers. Some signals also have more specialized connectors such as an SD card socket. Testability was also a major concern when deciding the stack up of the printed circuit board. All signals are routed on the outer layers so that they are easily available and can be slightly modified if needed.
Some difficulties were also faced during the design process of the printed circuit board. Of these the biggest was the global chip shortage, because of which most of the chips that could have been used were not available. Due to chip shortage most of the chips had to be changed during the design phase and some chips had to be replaced by alternative means like using ready-made modules. Despite these problems the printed circuit boards were designed and manufactured before the SoCs arrived. The printed circuit boards were tested to be functional after which they could be used for their intended purpose of testing the SoCs.
Tampere University together with multiple companies started SoC Hub project. The goal of this project is to develop a system on a chip and increase Finnish system on a chip design expertise. The target is to develop one system on a chip in a year with three SoCs in total. The goal of this master’s thesis is to design a printed circuit board that can be used to test the first iteration of the SoC.
Printed circuit boards which are designed for testing have three main functions: provide power, provide input and output connectors and their circuitry, and to make testing as easy as possible. This system on a chip requires three different power rails, which must be turned on and off in a sequence and they must also be monitored in case of a fault. For this purpose, a power management system was developed in which a microcontroller monitors and controls the power rails. On the printed circuit board most of the input and output connectors use pin headers. The pin headers make testing easy as most signals are available in simple pin headers. Some signals also have more specialized connectors such as an SD card socket. Testability was also a major concern when deciding the stack up of the printed circuit board. All signals are routed on the outer layers so that they are easily available and can be slightly modified if needed.
Some difficulties were also faced during the design process of the printed circuit board. Of these the biggest was the global chip shortage, because of which most of the chips that could have been used were not available. Due to chip shortage most of the chips had to be changed during the design phase and some chips had to be replaced by alternative means like using ready-made modules. Despite these problems the printed circuit boards were designed and manufactured before the SoCs arrived. The printed circuit boards were tested to be functional after which they could be used for their intended purpose of testing the SoCs.