A practical first-silicon bring-up checklist

10 Sept 2026

validation
bring-up
debug

Sample article. Replace it with your own experience.

The first hours with new silicon go better if you check things in a fixed order. Each step depends on the one before it.

1. Power

Measure every rail against spec: voltage, ripple, and ramp time.
Check the POR/BOD thresholds with a slow ramp.
Record the quiescent current while the device is held in reset. It is your baseline for later power debug.

2. Clocks

Probe the crystal or oscillator output. Check frequency and amplitude.
If there is a clock-out pin, route the internal clocks to it and measure.

3. Debug access

Connect SWD/JTAG and read the device ID registers.
Halt the core and read PC and SP. Compare them with the vector table.

4. Memory

Run a walking-ones/zeros test on SRAM.
Program flash, read it back, and check the ECC status if there is ECC.

5. Peripherals

Toggle a GPIO first. It is the simplest end-to-end test.
Then UART for logs, then the rest.

Write down every result, including the ones that pass. Those notes help you spot trends when you have more samples.