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| Steve DeCollibus, Managing Editor, Semiconductor Packaging News
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A recent press release from Presto Engineering identifying them as, "the pioneers of the 'Labless' business model for bringing semiconductor products into volume production" caught my eye. In order to get a better idea of what the 'Labless' concept entailed we asked their CEO Michel Villemain to share some of his ideas with us.
CN: Explain for our readers what Labless process is all about?
MV: Presto enables chip companies to outsource critical functions that require high rates of capital investment and specialized personnel. This reduces their costs and enables them to focus on their core business of designing advanced devices and bringing them to market.
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| Michel Villemain, CEO, Presto Engineering
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Presto's hubs, including the new facility in Caen, France, that represents the company’s expansion into Europe, are state-of-the-art facilities staffed by highly skilled engineers and scientists.
Their experience with a wide range of leading-edge chip projects enables Presto to offer both world-class analytical services and insightful advice during the critical late stages of product development, and accelerating time to market.
CN: How does this business model compare to current pre launch test, failure analysis and fault isolation processes currently used by the ODM?
MV: Even device manufacturers that have the latest equipment may not be current on the latest issues in packaging and general analysis. For example, through-silicon vias are a new design technology that the value chain has to catch up with. We backfill with expertise for these companies.
Companies with older equipment may face new challenges when they move to new process nodes. Then the question is: do they upgrade equipment or try to get by as best they can, or outsource the test, failure analysis and fault isolation to a company like Presto Engineering?
Presto offers both expertise and equipment capabilities for our customers. Because we deal with many diverse cases from a variety of chip companies, we’re able to respond to customers’ needs in a timely manner.
CN: How much design rework is usually involved in finalizing a new MEMS or IC process?
MV: Presto is electrical-design oriented rather than process oriented. Our failure analysis identifies electrical failures, and we can pinpoint where they are occurring through fault isolation; for example, where a via is shorted or a metal line is shorted.
From that point, we ask whether there was a design-rule violation or was the process somehow flawed. We also offer failure analysis, debug, and fault isolation to specific nodes in the design that cause excess leakage issues or timing problems.
In our model, customers describe the symptoms and we work out a strategy for failure analysis. If it's a design-related issue, we’ll go back to the customer who will redo the mask set and fix the problem.
CN: Why is Presto in a better position than the original designer to discover a flaw in a new product?
MV: We're not in a better position per se. We have a different role than the designer. Presto is like a doctor who hears a description of the symptoms, asks questions and then diagnoses the root cause. We utilize the customer's product datasheet to gain a general understanding of the device and its modes of operation.
Then we work with the customer to develop directed test sets for ATE, hooking up a tester to test the device in its failing mode. From there we engage our analytical instruments to go in-silicon to see, for example, the area of the device that is on when it should be in a low-power state, or to investigate timing-related issues like set-up/hold measurements.
A recent customer project involved a chip that was supposed to go into sleep mode but it was drawing all sorts of current. We did the analysis to isolate where on the die the device was still active, which highlighted a problem with third-party IP that was used in the chip.
CN: Lately there has been some criticism of the Fabless concept, saying that it is holding up innovation and progress for companies that have gone that way, because they are limited to using older tools and technology to manufacture their products. How will Presto help the Fabless market to move forward and compete with companies who are making process technology investments?
MV: We have quickly become an important link in the fabless value chain by supplementing foundry services and collaborating with fabless companies.
For example, we collaborate with companies that provide design, productization, packaging and manufacturing services, but that don’t offer failure analysis. The new technologies are not going to be successful unless there is a full solution set and the full set also must include characterization and analysis.
