Validation of Power Dissipation of SerDes IPs

Abstract: Post-Silicon validation of a designed ASIC is an essential step in the product development process. During the validation process, all specifications of the ASICs have to be controlled in a lab environment. Serializer/Deserialiser(SerDes) blocks in an ASIC are used to perform high-speed serial data communication between distinct integrated circuits. The goal of the thesis is to validate the power consumption of SerDes IP blocks provided by different vendors in an ASIC. To validate power consumption, current and voltage values are read from power supply lines. Then these values are digitized and stored on a Raspberry Pi. To perform these operations, the initial firmware provided by vendors is improved to control SerDes operations, and software is developed to control the Raspberry Pi. Power measured operation is performed for every possible data rate for each SerDes modules. Power measurement is also performed for different temperature range in industry standards with the highest possible data rate for each SerDes IP block. As a final step, measured power consumption values are compared to vendors’ data.