1. Purpose of the gate
Characterised engineering samples go to lead customers with a preliminary datasheet, models and known errata, so platform work can start.
Engineering samples let customers start their own platform work while qualification runs. A sample that behaves differently from its datasheet, or arrives without its errata, costs customers time and costs the supplier credibility, so the review checks that what ships is characterised, documented and honest about its limits.
The review also freezes two choices that shape the rest of the lifecycle: the qualification scope and application grades the part will be qualified to, and the lead platforms on which interoperability will be validated first. Both decide which customers can approve the part first.
Sample releases are often staged by customer, platform or grade. The review approves the plan as a whole and the first shipments, with later shipments following the same rules: every shipment carries the current datasheet, models and errata, and every customer receives updates when they change.
10 more sections for registered members.