TestDesign Hardware

The problem was straightforward: Different test platforms were used by different engineering professionals throughout the verification phases of simulation, emulation, prototyping and other types of testing. In the semiconductor chip world, verification refers to the process in which a design is tested (or verified) against a given design specification before tape-out, i.e., before the design is made into a silicon chip.

The coming of silicon photonic technology in the datacom and telecom industries has been foretold for the last several decades. Indeed, replacing copper wires with fiber optics and silicon photonic interfaces has been occurring in these markets, just at a slower pace than predicted. Chris Cole, VP of Advanced Development at II-VI, challenges the expectation of a wide-spread replacement of copper wires with silicon photonic interfaces.

As the name suggests, signal integrity deals with the integrity of an electrical signal. It all stems from the fact that digital signals are not really binary values of “1” or “0” but are analog voltage (or current) waveforms. As such, these waveforms are subject to the real-world, physical effects of noise, distortion, and loss. If the distances are short and at low bit rates, then a simple conductor will transmit a waveform with acceptable fidelity.