Test Program Bring-up: From Characterization Script to Screening Flow: Inputs and Outputs

Inputs and outputs contract

Inputs and Outputs for Test Program Bring-up: From Characterization Script to Screening Flow is anchored on First-pass test-program pass rate on known-good silicon, escaped-defect proxy rate, and debug turnaround time per failing test block.. Convert observed behavior into mechanism-backed and owner-bound actions.

INPUTS
  - board and fixture configuration state
  - firmware revision and boot arguments
  - corner conditions (V/F/T) and workload window
  - instrumentation profile and trace coverage assumptions

OUTPUTS
  - evidence-backed root-cause class
  - owner-signed mitigation proposal
  - replay validation matrix and rollback triggers
  - release recommendation

Ownership split

OWNERSHIP LAYERS - Test Program Bring-up: From Characterization Script to Screening Flow

+----------------------+--------------------------------+--------------------------------+
| Team                 | Primary responsibility         | Closure artifact               |
+----------------------+--------------------------------+--------------------------------+
| product test engineer | hypothesis map and execution     | triage decision log            |
| test program developer | stage behavior and software proof | boot/trace evidence packet     |
| yield engineering owner | replay matrix and risk closure    | signoff memo + rollback gates  |
+----------------------+--------------------------------+--------------------------------+

Silicon bring-up deep dive

Correlation succeeds when tester and bench experiments share identical conditions and evidence expectations.

Concept diagram

CORRELATION LADDER

ATE fail bin -> extract pattern -> reproduce on bench -> reconcile deltas

Metric graph

CORRELATION CONFIDENCE

unmatched signatures     █████
partial matches          ████
full context matches     ███████

Metrics and artifacts to collect

• ATE-to-bench signature match ratio

• pattern replay fidelity score

• environment mismatch incident rate

• yield-impact closure tracker

Mini case study

Correlation speed improved dramatically after enforcing shared metadata headers and one replay protocol across tester and lab.

Debug branches

• Normalize V/F/T and pattern-window metadata first.

• Audit fixture and probing assumptions before silicon blame.

• Require repeatable signature in both environments before closure.

Senior review question

Ask: what is the first failing boundary, which artifact proves it, and who owns bounded closure?

Key takeaways

• Tie every bring-up claim to one reproducible setup state and one proving artifact.

• Prefer bounded fixes with clear owner and rollback trigger over broad multi-variable edits.

Common pitfalls

• Running parallel uncontrolled experiments and losing causality.

• Declaring closure without replaying across representative corners.

• Escalating severity before bench/setup hypotheses are disproven.

Handoff explanation

Inputs should include board state, firmware hash, environment corner, and instrumentation profile.

Outputs should include owner-signed mitigation proposal and validation boundaries.