Strategic Leadership and Innovation for Intel’s 5G Chip

With over two decades of experience in semiconductor testing, Vijay Sontakke has been significantly contributing to enhancing testing quality for chips at Intel Corporation. He has expertise in understanding semiconductor manufacturing problems and design-for-test (DFT) methodologies. Earlier, he has successfully led projects for designing testability features in chips for highly reputed semiconductor chip design companies like Motorola, AMD, and Ikanos.

Vijay led test features design activities for Intel’s 5G networking chip. He developed a custom design-for-test (DFT) integration flow and defined architecture to support testing of the chip. By including advanced fault detection strategies, he ensured there were no escapes of faulty chips reaching customers, especially when manufacturing technology was the latest. Vijay led a team of 30 engineers spread across multiple geographies. He partnered with Intel’s various IP teams and industry EDA tool vendors to develop flows. He oversaw the efforts of team members working on different activities like block-level dft implementation and verification.

His flow has reduced testability implementation time for critical blocks from 9 weeks to 2 weeks. There was no bug in the manufactured chip. Due to this, the chip reached production-level quality in record time and started generating revenue for the company. Vijay received numerous recognitions for his contributions to this chip, including an award from Intel CEO.

With his outstanding technical acumen, leadership, and commitment to innovation, Vijay Sontakke has played a crucial role in developing the 5G networking chip. His work embodies the spirit of the Titan Business Awards, demonstrating unparalleled innovation, impactful execution, and a profound industry influence. Recognizing his outstanding leadership and innovative work, we are pleased to honor him with the Titan Achievement in Science or Technology Award, the accolade for excellence and innovation.