1. Purpose and scope
First product silicon is the moment the company learns whether the money raised in the Series A bought a working product. The stage opens with the release that commits that money: at Product tape-out the signed-off database goes to the foundry and the full mask set is ordered, with the package, test strategy, boards and software ready. When parts return, the stage has two aims that pull against each other. The team must find problems quickly and thoroughly, because every problem found after customers design the part in is far more expensive. And it must get samples to the design partners and first customers who are waiting, because their design-in decisions, and the company's next round, depend on them. The answer is a clear silicon validation plan, an honest errata list and samples shipped with known limits rather than hidden ones.
In scope: the release of the signed-off database and the mask and wafer order, the final package design and test strategy, tracking masks and wafers, receiving parts, power-up, bring-up on the evaluation board, the initial and updated test program, post-silicon validation against the specification, root cause analysis of silicon issues, the errata list, firmware and software development kit on silicon, the evaluation kit, engineering samples, the final qualification plan, export classification and the sample plan with each customer. Out of scope: changes to the database before release, which go back through the checks of Product Silicon Sign-off, and running qualification stresses and releasing production, which belong to Qualification & First Revenue.
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