The 50th International Test Conference convenes Nov. 12-14 in Washington, DC. It will cover topics ranging from devices to systems—focusing on the entire product lifecycle, including design verification, test, diagnosis, failure analysis, and process and design improvement. In addition to technical topics, the conference will address business aspects ranging from venture capital funding to challenges related to the Air Force’s supply-chain management.
I spoke with Ron Press of Mentor, a Siemens Business, who is serving as the ITC marketing chair this year.
Q. I notice there are several keynote addresses and “visionary talks” this year. Keynotes often cite issues that will be front-and-center throughout the year, or even many years. What’s a significant keynote that you recall from your times at ITC?
A. I’d have to say the keynote from Pat Gelsinger (Intel) back in 1999. Pat presented a keynote pointing out that the capital dollars spent on semiconductor test was staying flat over time while manufacturing cost was falling. He warned that by 2012 test costs could equal manufacturing costs if nothing was done. He challenged the test community to solve this problem during his keynote talk.
Q. I cited the Gelsinger keynote and wrote about the challenge facing the test industry back in 2000. Do you believe the industry met the challenge?
A. Yes, I think the industry did a great job meeting the challenge. Dr. Wally Rhines gave a keynote speech in 2016 which highlighted this challenge and the impact that new test-compression technology had on the industry. He showed a major shift in ATE revenue in 2001 when test compression technology was introduced.
Q. This year there are six keynote addresses and five visionary talks. What distinguishes the visionary talks from the keynotes?
A. In fact, we just added a sixth visionary talk to the program. Visionary talks are also delivered by executives but offer a more broad and forward-looking perspective.
Q. Among the scheduled keynotes and talks, do you see any consistent themes? A quick scan suggests that big data and data analytics, automotive, and cybersecurity will get a lot of attention.
A. Interesting question. I think the common trend that I see is that electronics test is growing in significance far beyond traditional concerns. It is now an important consideration relative to big data and lifecycle analysis. As you noticed, it is a part of the bigger picture.
Q. One of the talks will discuss “democratic circuits for a safer and greener tomorrow.” Can you give us a hint what a democratic circuit is, or do we just have to wait for the talk?
A. I think you need to wait for the talk because I’m not aware of the details, so I don’t even want to speculate about the contents of that talk by Giovanni De Micheli.
Q. Do you foresee any topics emerging from this year’s talks that will gain the traction of Gelsinger’s 1999 keynote? In light of Google’s recent announcement, perhaps the cost of test for quantum computers?
A. There are many interesting topics, and I certainly hope some will have lasting resonance, sbut it is really hard to foresee which talk will have a lasting impact. Our program committee also wondered which technical papers had a lasting impact and around 2008 we created an award for the technical paper from ten years earlier with the biggest impact. These “significant papers” are listed on this ITC webpage.
Q. Do the technical-session topics mirror the keynote and visionary-talk topics, or do they introduce some new topics?
A. Many of the topics in the keynote and sessions are consistent. As you mentioned, there are also quite a few really unique topics in the program. For example, there is a session about the US government’s AI policy, SKY talks looking at the history of ITC, and more. ITC worked hard to expand our worldwide reach, resulting in great success with our sister conferences, ITC-India and ITC-Asia. The organizers of those events have done a really good job reaching a broader community. Our program also includes the three top rated papers from ITC-India and ITC-Asia.
Q. I notice there is a venture-capital session. Has such a session been held at ITC before, or is this a first? If it’s been held before, how was it received? If this is the first time, what prompted the committee to add it?
A. The “ITC VC Pitch Tank” is a first at ITC. Since we were holding the conference in Washington, DC, and have some talks by technology venture funding organizations like DARPA and Mubadala Ventures, it made sense to have such a session.
Q. There is a session titled “Air Force Supply Chain Provenance Challenge.” What is the goal of this session?
A. This is a unique challenge brought forth by AFRL and AFWERX. It’s all about demonstrating solutions that help solve the current microelectronic supply chain problem. The challenge is attempting to identify solutions that are non-destructive in nature and prove provenance and suitability for military use of microelectronic parts in commercial off the shelf hardware to be used on base installations or in operation. Three teams will present their results on the ITC exhibition floor.
Q. Will there be any special events acknowledging ITC’s 50th year?
A. Our welcome reception on Tuesday evening will have a special theme recognizing the 50th year ITC, while looking forward in the future. We hope to have a display in the conference showcasing memorabilia from the 50 years of ITC.
One additional comment about the conference—We are trying to modernize the conference with more activity in ITC social-media platforms. We invite the test community to share relevant posts on Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, and Twitter. There are links to the ITC social media pages in the ITC webpage. We also will introduce a mobile app this year. #itctestweek #50ITC #EnablingTheModernWorld
Q. Briefly, what are Mentor’s plans for ITC?
A. Mentor has a long track record of deep involvement at ITC, and we see the conference as an important gathering of industry leaders and a venue to introduce new technologies and share significant results.
On Tuesday, right after the plenary, we have a Diamond Supporter event, titled Accelerating Test—Enabling Fast Market Entry and Advanced Automotive Systems. In this session, Mentor partners Infineon and Broadcom will describe the challenges of implementing leading-edge devices and how the Tessent platform enabled them to improve their time to market. The challenge we face relates to managing and dealing with all the complexity of huge IC designs with many blocks and multiple DFT features. The Tessent platform was designed and built with this in mind. It is a unified tool and database that manages and shares various DFT feature information (BIST, scan, ATPG, …) and hierarchical data. Basically, we let the tool handle the complexity so the user doesn’t have to.
On Wednesday morning, Mentor’s executive vice president, Joe Sawicki, will give a visionary talk titled “Moving from Production Test to Life Cycle Management.”
On Thursday, we are holding a lunch seminar (registration required) focusing on optimizing your DFT flow. You will hear from DFT engineer Mahmoud Abdalwahab from NXP and Mentor’s DFT flow expert, Vidya Neerkundar.
At the Mentor exhibit booth theater we will have a number of partners discuss interesting results and work they are doing with us. Speakers include engineers from Samsung, Graphcore, Arm, Teradyne, Advantest, and Renesas covering topics like AI DFT, high-speed IO/1149.10, and automotive.
We have ten posters that cover a variety of topics with partners throughout the industry. These posters allow intimate one on one discussions with the authors on topics such as AI DFT, optimizing compression, silicon bring-up, HBM, hierarchical test and more.
For more information, visit www.itctestweek.org.
