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XJTAG DFT Assistant for Altium Designer

properly terminated. Seeing how muchof your PCB can be accessed usingBoundary Scan is also beneficial, as itprovides developers with the informationthey need in order to design formaximum test coverage.

The XJTAG DFT Assistant helpsautomate this process. The Assistantassociates imported BSDL files withtheir relevant components on theschematic, providing the Extension withthe information it needs to understandthe JTAG chain. Logic and passivedevices that propagate a BoundaryScan chain can also be identified andcategorized, enabling complete chainson the schematic to be checked forcorrectness. By visualizing the extent ofJTAG access, developers can easilysee how much of their design can beaccessed, and how coverage could beextended to include parts of a designnot accessible to boundary scan testing.

Right by Design

Implementing a JTAG chain in your PCBrequires compliance with Design for Test(DFT) best practices. Making full use ofJTAG, the powerful technology available inmost modern, highly functional ICs suchas microprocessors, microcontrollers,DSPs and FPGAs, relies on all JTAGchains being connected correctly and

OverviewAccessing the power of Boundary Scan through JTAG-compliant ICsprovides many benefits during prototype bring-up and in production test.The XJTAG® DFT Assistant for Altium Designer® performs the checksneeded to ensure your JTAG chain is right first time, by design.

Key Benefits

• Carry out a DFT analysis for Boundary Scan access from withinAltium Designer

• Avoid errors early in the developmentcycle, reducing PCB re-spins ormodifications

• Understand where your JTAG chainprovides test access through color-coded views

• Extend your Boundary Scan testcoverage by correctly implementingJTAG chains

• Improve the production process andreduce your time-to-market

• Export all data to XJDeveloper (Full or Evaluation License for XJTAGtools required)

The XJTAG DFT Assistant for Altium DesignerSoftware Extension docks in the design viewand is active during schematic design, to runchain checks or view Boundary Scan access atany time during the development process

Installing XJTAG DFT Assistant forAltium Designer means developers willbe able to find and correct potentialproblems in a JTAG chain beforemoving to layout, saving time and cost intheir overall project.

Further Details:

The XJTAG DFT Assistant for AltiumDesigner software extension consists of the XJTAG Chain Checker and theXJTAG Access Viewer.

The Chain Checker tool works byanalyzing the netlist and finding aroutable scan chain. It identifies errorsand gives warnings of potentialproblems found on JTAG chains,including:

• Connection errors if any of the JTAG TestAccess Point (TAP) signals are connected tothe wrong pin(s) on a JTAG-compliant IC.

• Termination warnings if any of the TAPsignals are not terminated as recommended.

• Compliance pin errors if they are incorrectlypulled high or low, or are left floating.

The XJTAG DFT Assistant extensionalso identifies the extent of JTAGaccess across an entire schematic.This is overlaid on to the schematicusing the XJTAG Access Viewer,allowing designers to understand theirtest access at an early stage in thedesign. By visualizing the extent of testaccess, engineers are able to see theimpact design changes have on theirboard’s testability, watching it increaseas additional nets on the board are madeaccessible to Boundary Scan.

The entire process of DFT analysis ishandled by the extension and reportedback within Altium Designer. Theinformation gathered can also beexported as an XJDeveloper project,where it can be imported and used as thebasis for further test development, usingan XJLink/XJLink2 controller for testingthe PCB once it has been manufactured.

XJTAG DFT Assistant for Altium Designer

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Features

• Fully assisted board setup to carry out a JTAG DFT analysis

• Automatic import of netlist from Altium Designer

• Includes a JTAG Access Viewer tool thathighlights testable nets in a designdirectly on the schematic diagram

• Analysis of results from the ChainChecker tool clearly identify potentialerrors in the chain(s)

• Provides three categories of error:connection, termination and compliance

• Shows testable nets using color-codedconnections, which can be turned on/offfor easy viewing

• Assisted categorization of non JTAG-enabled devices

• Export results to XJDeveloper for use inprototype bring-up and production test

The XJTAG Access Viewer provides a clear indication of test access at any point during design

The XJTAG Chain Checker identifies and categorizes faults and warnings in the boundary scan chain(s)

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