Alliance Semiconductor Introduces New Line of IEEE 1149.1 JTAG Devices.SANTA CLARA, Calif. -- Integrated Component and PCB PCB: see polychlorinated biphenyl. PCB in full polychlorinated biphenyl Any of a class of highly stable organic compounds prepared by the reaction of chlorine with biphenyl, a two-ring compound. Testing Reduces Test Time, Expands Fault Coverage and Enables in-Field System Diagnostics Alliance Semiconductor Corporation (Nasdaq:ALSC ALSC Association for Library Service to Children ALSC Adirondack Lakes Survey Corporation ALSC Afloat Logistics and Sealift Capability ALSC American Lumber Standards Committee, Inc. ALSC Advanced Logistics Systems Center (AFMC) ), a worldwide provider of analog and mixed signal products, high-performance memory products, connectivity and networking solutions for the communications, computing, embedded, industrial and consumer markets, today announced the availability of its extensive family of IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, New York, www.ieee.org) A membership organization that includes engineers, scientists and students in electronics and allied fields. 1149.1 compliant JTAG (Joint Test Action Group) An IEEE standard for boundary scan technology. See scan technology. JTAG - Joint Test Action Group devices. These products provide very efficient solutions to implement design-for-test (DFT DFT - discrete Fourier transform ) on the PCB for the networking, communications, storage, compute and embedded systems. Alliance's JTAG products allow leading OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer) The rebranding of equipment and selling it. The term initially referred to the company that made the products (the "original" manufacturer), but eventually became widely used to refer to the organization that buys the products and partners to develop highly integrated IEEE 1149.1 test strategies at the board, system and sub module levels. The integration of Alliance's JTAG products enable system engineers to reduce Flash memory and CPLD/FPGA programming time, while providing higher fault coverage and system diagnostics in the factory and the field. "Our JTAG products were designed to meet the growing design-for-test requirements of system engineers and the paradigm shift A dramatic change in methodology or practice. It often refers to a major change in thinking and planning, which ultimately changes the way projects are implemented. For example, accessing applications and data from the Web instead of from local servers is a paradigm shift. See paradigm. in the industry towards standardizing on JTAG as the primary board and system test technology. They enable structured PCB designs, maximize PCB test coverage and minimize PCB test time so that our customers can debug, test and deploy new designs to market faster," said Robert Napaa, vice president of marketing for Alliance's System Solutions business unit. "With the high capital costs associated with traditional testing methods, our JTAG products further strengthen our commitment to providing the most efficient and cost-effective solutions. The expansion of Alliance's system solutions offering with JTAG products also enables us to provide customers with more complete systems control and support." Alliance's family of JTAG products includes four devices: a 3-port JTAG gateway, a 6-port JTAG gateway, a JTAG test controller and a JTAG test sequencer See MIDI sequencer. (music) sequencer - Any system for recording and/or playback of music via a programmable memory which stores music not as audio data, but as some representation of notes. . The 3-port and the 6-port JTAG gateways allow a long JTAG chain to be sub-divided into three or six smaller chains. This provides isolation between the various components on the chain and speeds the access time to the devices. The JTAG test controller has a generic CPU CPU in full central processing unit Principal component of a digital computer, composed of a control unit, an instruction-decoding unit, and an arithmetic-logic unit. interface to allow the host or the software to control the JTAG chain. This is critical for quick fault isolation and system debugging. The JTAG test sequencer has a Flash interface. It executes JTAG tests stored into Flash by running them through the JTAG chain and comparing the results. Depending on the system requirements, any combination of the four devices can be used. Alliance's JTAG products offer a multitude of benefits and features to system engineers, including: --Enables the addition of new silicon devices without the risk of rendering PCB untestable --Total PCB diagnostics upon power up with the use of BIST BIST - Built-in Self Test within ICs --Enables the ability to diagnose interconnect faults on the back plane of the sub rack between cards --Allows the ability to address cards in a sub rack via software, no jumpers required to maintain JTAG chain integrity --JTAG chain partitioning of a single large chain into multiple addressable Reachable. When something is addressable, it can be identified and manipulated independently of its surroundings. For example, screen pixels and RAM memory are addressable. Each of the screen's picture elements can be individually turned on and off, and each of the memory's bytes can be JTAG chains --Reduces time needed to program FLASH memory with chain partitioning --Ability to update FLASH and CPLD (Complex PLD) A programmable logic device that is made up of several simple PLDs (SPLDs) with a programmable switching matrix in between the logic blocks. CPLDs typically use EEPROM, flash memory or SRAM to hold the logic design interconnections. See PLD and SPLD. contents without PCB removal from the system --Aids fault diagnosis, a single fault on the JTAG chain does not render the card completely untestable The following table lists a quick comparison among the four devices in the family.
AS91L1001 AS91L1002 AS91L1003 AS91L1006
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Description JTAG Test JTAG Test 3-port JTAG 6-port JTAG
Controller Sequencer Gateway Gateway
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System Usage Enables CPU Executes Divides a Divides a
host / system tests JTAG chain JTAG chain
software to at boot up to into three into six
control the determine smaller smaller
JTAG chains board sub-chains sub-chains
and system functionality
testing
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IEEE1149.1 JTAG
Primary Port 1 1 1 1
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IEEE1149.1 JTAG
Secondary Port 1 -- 3 6
--------------- ------------- -------------- ------------ ------------
Flash Interface -- Yes -- --
--------------- ------------- -------------- ------------ ------------
CPU Interface Yes -- -- --
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Samples and production quantities are currently available. All the devices are available in a lead-free 100-pin LQFP See QFP. package. For more information on Alliance's JTAG controllers and gateways, please see the product briefs at http://www.alsc.com/products/jtag.html. About Alliance Alliance Semiconductor Corporation (Nasdaq:ALSC) is powering every application with high performance solutions for the communications, computing and consumer electronics markets. Utilizing advanced process technologies and design expertise, Alliance provides leading OEMs with a broad portfolio of complementary technologies including analog and mixed-signal products, chip-to-chip connectivity products, networking controllers and high-performance memories. Alliance addresses the complete needs of system developers by leveraging its proprietary advances in Electromagnetic Interference See EMI. (EMI (ElectroMagnetic Interference) An electrical disturbance in a system due to natural phenomena, low-frequency waves from electromechanical devices or high-frequency waves (RFI) from chips and other electronic devices. Allowable limits are governed by the FCC. ) reduction, power management and timing technology, HyperTransport(TM) I/O (Input/Output) The transfer of data between the CPU and a peripheral device. Every transfer is an output from one device and an input to another. See PC input/output. I/O - Input/Output connectivity and specialized memory solutions for next-generation applications. Founded in 1985, Alliance is headquartered in Santa Clara, Calif., with design centers in Santa Clara, Bangalore and Hyderabad, India. The company is publicly traded and included in the S&P 600 Index. Additional information is available on the Alliance Web site at: http://www.alsc.com. |
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