ASO Inc. adopts CloudTesting™ Service for their Analog Front End evaluation for imager
ASO Inc. that treats design and sales of mixed signal devices and outsourced semiconductor evaluation adopts CloudTesting™ Service for their AFE (Analog Front End) evaluation of imager. For mere 16 bit AD converter, CloudTesting™ Service is enough from evaluation to production, said Mr. Moroshima, president of ASO Inc. We heard from him about the use application, impression, and foresight of CloudTesting™ Service.
The uses of CloudTesting™ Service
Cloud Testing Service(CTS) : You, ASO Inc., mainly uses analog verification IPs, such as ADC DC Linearity Measurement and ADC AC Characteristics Measurement IP. What is your intended purpose to use CTS?
President Moroshima: We use CTS for AFE evaluation of imagers that has multiple AD converters. We evaluate the linearity with various Power Supply Voltage and the characteristics with changing the thermal condition with thermostatic chamber. Waveform Viewer is used to show the waveform and view the characteristic for each condition.
Thermostatic Chamber
Why did you choose CloudTesting™ Service?
CTS: How did you decide to use CTS?
President Moroshima: I knew CTS on referral from acquaintance, and visited CTS website. I found CTS has released the IP for AD converter evaluation. Not only linearity, but also SNR, THD, SFDR, SINAD and ENOB are available and I thought this is good. Then, we needed to evaluate AD convertor, and started using CTS. CTS is a new generation equipment. Therefore I expected DC accuracy and probability are also good. Compared with old equipment we have, CTS is much better than them.
Usability of CloudTesting™ Service
CTS: What is your impression when you use CTS?
President Moroshima: CTS is, on the whole, satisfactory. Mostly I can operate by intuition. Therefore developing measurement program takes time almost half of conventional method. But the functionality to summarize and report the evaluation result should be improved more. CSV and image output of waveform is good. To heighten the efficiency of evaluation, if the waveform showed at default is specifiable, it’s useful because we can cut and paste the image as it is. And FFT setting should be more flexible. Even though there are some fine requests, in most cases good and I like it. Telephone support was also helpful. For this evaluation, I contacted some times to CTS helpdesk for support. Speedy and kind responses were impressive.
CloudTesting™ Service cost impression
CTS: What is your impression about CTS business model and cost?
President Moroshima: Charging per used IP is good direction align with the era trend. The fee is also reasonable. After switching to CTS, manufacturing cost for JIG such as test board also becomes almost one fifth. From both functionality and cost point of view, the evaluation of AD converter less than 16 bits should be switched to CTS environment. It’s more general than preparing dedicated system using instruments and FPGA, and you can find cost merits.
Measurement Bench
Prospects for the future
CTS: How are you going to use CTS for the future?
President Moroshima: Analog-rich mixed signal device will tape out soon. We plan to evaluate it with CTS. This device includes AD converter and DSP. We evaluate those with CTS. I found that CTS is usable for final test, too. We will consider doing final test with same environment as design and verification by providing test program.
President Moroshima also said “CTS is cut out for sensor evaluation like magnetic sensor and acceleration sensor. CTS user will increase. ” Not only showed in this article, he gave us many feedbacks. Some of them are already reflected on IP. CTS is always progressing. CTS delivers IP through the cloud, and equipped automated update function*. We would like to always evolve with reflecting users’ voice.
*automated update function can be turned off by setting
