SynTest Announces DFT-PRO Plus

Comprehensive package of DFT tools for One-Pass RTL DFT synthesis
with VirtualScan ATPG

SUNNYVALE, California, June 2, 2003 . Design-for-Test (DFT) leader SynTest Technologies today announced release of DFT-PRO Plus™, a comprehensive software package of Design-for-Test (DFT) tools for One-Pass RTL DFT synthesis with VirtualScan ATPG to improve an ASIC design's testability and fault coverage, at an affordable cost.

All DFT insertion using DFT-PRO Plus is handled at the Register Transfer Level (RTL), thereby moving DFT insertion ahead of logic synthesis in the flow. The DFT tools generate RTL blocks that can be easily synthesized and incorporated into the design flow using any commercially available logic and scan synthesis tools from vendors like Cadence, Get2Chip, Incentia, Magma, Mentor, Synopsys or Synplicity. As the DFT blocks are at RTL, this also eases the overall design floor planning decisions carried out at the RTL stage.

DFT-PRO Plus includes a complete set of well-integrated tools for DFT implementation schemes, including scan synthesis and ATPG, boundary-scan synthesis, BIST (Built-In Self-Test) for embedded memories, DFT rule checking and automatically integrating the DFT-ready blocks into the design.

DFT-PRO Plus contains VirtualScan™, for scan insertion and compressed ATPG with VirtualScan capability to generate XtremeCompact scan test patterns. This reduces the cost of semiconductor testing by a factor of 5x to 50x through reduced test data volume, test run time and ATE reloads. Users do not need to change their scan methodology. VirtualScan also works with netlists that have scan inserted using other popular scan-synthesis tools.

The DFT rule checker identifies almost 100% of DFT violations, at the RTL stage itself. It also has linting capability. The pre-logic synthesis identification of RTL design errors averts post-synthesis surprises, which result in costly and time-consuming redesign iterations. It also enables reusability of the clean, testable RTL code. Further, most DFT violations can be repaired automatically.

"The ability to perform DFT audit, scan repair and synthesis at RTL is a major milestone for SoC designers. They do not have to worry about DFT issues at a later stage any more," remarked Ravi Apte, senior vice president for strategy and business development at SynTest. "Further, the inclusion of VirtualScan, the patent-pending pattern compaction suite for test cost reduction, in DFT-PRO Plus would make it easy not only for emerging companies to invest in DFT right from the ASIC/SoC design start, but also for large IDMs to recover their investment in the very first design."

Pricing and Availability
Introductory US price till September 30, 2003, for a 3-year time-based license, DFT-PRO Plus at $159,000.00 and VirtualScan at $99,000.00.
The DFT-PRO Plus is available for shipment.

About SynTest:
SynTest Technologies, Inc., est. 1990, develops and markets advanced Design-for-Test (DFT) and Design-for-Debug/Diagnosis (DFD) tools throughout the world, to semiconductor companies, system houses and design service providers. The Company's products improve an electronic design's testability and fault coverage and result in reduced defect levels and reduced slippage in Time-to-Market (TTM). They also reduce overall design and test costs, by helping to reduce design iterations as well as the time and reloads on Automatic Test Equipment (ATE). These products include tools for logic BIST, memory BIST, boundary-scan synthesis, DFT testability analysis, VirtualScan synthesis and ATPG with XtremeCompact. test vectors, concurrent fault simulation, silicon debug and diagnosis.

The company headquartered in Sunnyvale, California, has offices in Taiwan, Korea and Japan, and distributors in Europe and Asia including Israel.
More information is available at www.syntest.com.

SynTest Technologies Inc. is headquartered at 505 South Pastoria Ave., Suite 101, Sunnyvale, California 94086, Phone: 408-720-9956, E-Mail: info@syntest.com

Acronyms:
ASIC: Application Specific Integrated Circuits
ATE: Automatic Test Equipment
ATPG: Automatic Test Program Generation
BIST: Built-In Self-Test
DFT: Design-for-Test
DFD: Design-for-Debug/Diagnosis
IDM: Integrated Device Manufacturer
RTL: Register Transfer Level
SoC: System-on-Chip

DFT-PRO Plus, VirtualScan and XtremeCompact are trademarks of SynTest Technologies. All other company or product names are the registered trademarks or trademarks of their respective owners.