Why Embedded Instrumentation?
Embedded instrumentation has been thrust into the limelight because external test technologies are coming up short as the capabilities of electronic systems continue to progress. Consider a few examples. Traditional stand-alone instruments have a difficult time keeping up with the increasing data transfer speeds and frequencies of chip-to-chip interconnects and I/O buses. In addition, semiconductor vendors are designing-in signaling enhancements such as preconditioning, pre-emphasis, and equalization to help move signals at higher frequencies. Unfortunately, these techniques make accurate measurements even more difficult for traditional instruments. At the chip level, sub 100-nm fabrication processes have dramatic effects on device-level parametric performance characteristics, and traditional testing techniques are ineffective at identifying many common problems. External instruments at the corners of a chip cannot see parametric variations like thermal conditions, timing issues, clock
