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Testing and operating a multiprocessor chip with processor redundancy

Patent ·
OSTI ID:1160333
A system and method for improving the yield rate of a multiprocessor semiconductor chip that includes primary processor cores and one or more redundant processor cores. A first tester conducts a first test on one or more processor cores, and encodes results of the first test in an on-chip non-volatile memory. A second tester conducts a second test on the processor cores, and encodes results of the second test in an external non-volatile storage device. An override bit of a multiplexer is set if a processor core fails the second test. In response to the override bit, the multiplexer selects a physical-to-logical mapping of processor IDs according to one of: the encoded results in the memory device or the encoded results in the external storage device. On-chip logic configures the processor cores according to the selected physical-to-logical mapping.
Research Organization:
International Business Machines Corporation, Armonk, NY (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE
Assignee:
International Business Machines Corporation (Armonk, NY)
Patent Number(s):
8,868,975
Application Number:
13/196,459
OSTI ID:
1160333
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

References (2)

Testing of Vega2, a chip multi-processor with spare processors. conference October 2007
Multiple word/bit line redundancy for semiconductor memories journal October 1978

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