BayLibre TPMP Lowers the Cost and Time of PVT Characterization

If you don’t quite understand the title of this post, don’t worry that’s normal! So let me explains. TPMP stands for Thermo-regulated Power Measurement Platform, and PVT (Power, Voltage, Temperature) characterization is  a step in semiconductor manufacturing that involves testing wafers with various voltages, clock frequencies, and temperatures – known as Operating Performance Points (OPP) – to see how the properties of the wafer change.

The equipment required to perform this characterization is usually very expensive, and the process takes time. So BayLibre was tasked by one of their customers to automate the process, and find a lower cost solution. That’s how BayLibre TPMP came to life.

BayLibre TPMP
Click to Enlarge

The TPMP is comprised of six main hardware components in order to measure NXP i.MX8 processor die-temperature:

The TEC-1091 chip controls both the Peltier element and the fan to heat or cool the die to the specified temperature. The system supports temperature from 12°C to 115°C, however there’s a delta between the measured and actual die temperature of about 2°C for low-temperature ranges and 8°C for high-temperature ranges due to thermal resistance. That means the system’s chip external sensor must be calibrated before measurement to adjust for this delta in software.

It takes between 5 and 10 minutes to ramp from 25°C (ambient room temperature) to 115°C and stabilize at this temperature. The software is written in Python3, and should be easy to integrate in an automation suite. BayLibre mentions the source code can be retrieved with Git:


But I get the following error while running the command:


The script enable the user to set the die temperature, launch tests and save the results, and includes post-processing tools to analyze test results.

It’s what the output would look like when setting the die temperature to 30:


The Peltier element temperature overshoots to 34°C before stabilizing at around 30°C.

The solution is said to cost around ten times less to build than standard equipment, and it’s easier and faster to use, as you can run hundreds of test scripts with different power, temperature and voltage values within two hours. Doing the same thing manually may take a full day.

Eventually support for TPMP may be integrated into KernelCI project. You’ll find more details on BayLibre blog post.

Share this:

Support CNX Software! Donate via cryptocurrencies, become a Patron on Patreon, or purchase goods on Amazon or Aliexpress

Radxa Orion O6 Armv9 mini-ITX motherboard
Subscribe
Notify of
guest
The comment form collects your name, email and content to allow us keep track of the comments placed on the website. Please read and accept our website Terms and Privacy Policy to post a comment.
10 Comments
oldest
newest
Boardcon CM3588 Rockchip RK3588 System-on-Module designed for AI and IoT applications