When selecting Boundary Scan Tools, consider the following software and hardware related issues.
- Make sure the test development software “knows” about non-BScan device pins connected to nets that contain BScan pins and that it understands how all of these pins behave, how they influence the net, and how to control these pins. This allows the Automatic Test Pattern Generation (ATPG) tools to generate safe test pattern.
- Verify that the software provides flexible settings for ATPG tools to avoid Ground-Bounce issues.
- It sometimes is very helpful to be able to edit or at least to debug the automatically generated test program. This can be easily accomplished if the software provides the test pattern in both ASCII files and binary files (binary files for fast test execution). Furthermore, a test program written in a high-level programming language provides the flexibility to cope with non-compliance issues and to test simple clusters such as LED, switch, or jumper conditions very easily. It can be beneficial for the user to have full control over all BScan resources.
- Check the BScan controller hardware features for availability of sufficient Parallel I/O signals to support desired test and ISP applications.
- Evaluate the possibilities to combine the tool set with different third-party ATE equipment to create extended Boundary Scan applications.
- Analyze the feature set of accessory hardware, such as I/O modules used to improve test coverage and fault diagnostics.
- Flexible, feature oriented software licensing allows to configure customized tool sets that provide maximum value. Consider Floating/Network Licensing to share software licenses between groups and facilities.
