This paper presents SoCECT (system on chip embedded core test), a novel test controller architecture that allows multiple IEEE 1500 wrapped cores within a SoC to be tested concurrently. SoCECT makes use of the IEEE 1149.1 JTAG state machine to operate the test controller and also to allow for future integration with an IEEE P1687 interface. SoCECT also includes a test access mechanism (TAM) methodology(distributed architecture) that reuses the physical connections of the SoC system bus to provide an efficient transport medium for structural and functional test vectors between the embedded test controller and IEEE 1500 wrapped cores.

Delta Sigma data converters employing high order dynamic element matching (DEM) allow for accurate signal conversion in the presence of DAC mismatch. However, at low oversampling rates, current high order DEM decoders provide little or no improvement in error suppression over lower order designs. In addition, the logic requirement of the DEM decoder increases significantly with each additional DAC bit. This paper presents a high order DEM decoder that improves mismatch shaping performance at low to medium oversampling rates by up to 15dB, while employing methods to reduce the area overhead of the vector quantizer in the design.

This paper presents design analysis and insights for a new continuous-time input pipeline (CTIP) analog-to-digital converter (ADC) architecture that has enhanced bandwidth. An all-pass filter-based analog delay in the signal path allows bandwidth extension to Nyquist signal bandwidths. A resetting integrator gain stage provides a signal path delay helping to increase the bandwidth while reducing the power cost. The noise filtering property of the resetting integrator gain stage preserves the medium resistive input benefit of CTIP ADCs. The resetting integrator allows the architecture to be implemented with a feedforward compensated op-amp using low-voltage CMOS processes. This paper has been verified by simulation results of a CTIP ADC with 1.2-V supply voltage designed in TSMC's 65-nm CMOS technology.

The IEEE 1500 standard for embedded core test, approved in 2005, defines a scalable and reusable wrapper architecture that allows the testing of, and access to, embedded cores within a system on chip (SoC). The wrapper is controlled using a Wrapper Instruction Register (WIR), and has serial and parallel ports for test access mechanisms (TAMs) to deliver test vectors to the cores under test. In this study, the authors consider two implementation challenges that are outside the IEEE 1500 standard: how multiple WIRs within a SoC are controlled and accessed and also the TAM architecture. The authors present novel solutions to both challenges in the form of a test controller to interface with the embedded IEEE 1500 structures and also a TAM architecture that reuses the physical interconnections of an on-chip system bus. The test controller facilitates concurrent test of multiple IEEE 1500 wrapped cores in an SoC through the IEEE 1149.1 test access port (TAP). Reusing the physical interconnections of the system bus as a TAM is not dependent on the system bus protocol or functionality.