Errata log builder
Record each known difference from the specification with its workaround, affected steppings and customer wording, and export the public errata sheet.
Quality worksheetsFor membersHow it worksSourcesWhere it helps
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How it works
An errata log is the list of known differences between a silicon stepping and its specification, with the workaround and the steppings each one affects. This worksheet keeps the whole log in one place, counts it by severity and status, shows what is open on each stepping, finds the gaps, and writes a customer errata sheet that carries only the public columns.
- Set the product and its steppings. List the steppings or revisions, oldest first, for example A0, A1, B0. Every erratum names the steppings it affects from this list, so a typo is caught instead of silently missed. The word all stands for every stepping.
- Record each erratum once. Give it a number, a short title, an internal description, the date it was found, a severity and a category. Write the workaround and the status. A silicon fix never changes parts already made, so an erratum fixed in B0 still affects A0 and A1: list those and name B0 as the fixing stepping.
- Write the customer wording separately. The description and the internal root cause are for your team. The customer wording is the only free text that leaves the log. An erratum with no customer wording is held back from the customer sheet and reported, so nothing is published by accident.
- Count and compare. The log is counted by severity and by status. For each stepping the table shows how many errata affect it, how many are open, how many will not be fixed, how many are fixed in a later stepping, and how many open ones are critical.
open on a stepping = errata that list the stepping and have the status open - Find the gaps. The checks list errata with no workaround (other than documentation changes), critical errata still open, the oldest open erratum by age, steppings or fixes that are not in the list, a fixing stepping that is also listed as affected, and duplicate numbers.
- Export the customer sheet. The export is a CSV with a title block and the public columns: number, title, affected steppings, severity, category, workaround, status, fixed in, and the customer wording. Review the file before it goes to a customer; the tool cannot judge what is safe to say.
Assumptions
- One row is one erratum. A single issue that shows up differently in two blocks is two rows, or one row with both effects in the customer wording.
- Steppings are listed in the settings, and the log treats a fix as taking effect in the stepping named, with no effect on earlier steppings.
- Severity and category are your own scales. The four severities here are a working set, not a standard.
- The example sheets are invented to show the layout. They are not real errata.
Limits and warnings
- The tool does not decide whether an erratum must be disclosed. Contractual duties, safety obligations and legal advice come from your own organisation.
- No document control: revision numbers, approvals and distribution lists are kept outside this sheet.
- The customer export keeps only the columns listed above, but the customer wording itself is free text. Check it for internal detail before you send it.
- One saved sheet per member. Use the CSV and JSON export to keep copies of earlier issues of the log.
Sources
The methods and default figures rest on these public sources. The wording here is our own; read the source for its full text.
- Chip Errata for the i.MX RT1050, document IMXRT1050CE, Rev. 3 (opens in a new tab), NXP Semiconductors, November 2021. A published silicon errata sheet used as a format reference: a revision history, a summary table with a solution status per erratum (fixed in a stepping, or no fix scheduled), and a description, effect and workaround for each. The layout is followed in outline only; no text is copied.
- MSP430FR2100 Device Erratasheet, SLAZ703M (opens in a new tab), Texas Instruments, revision M, October 2021. A second published errata sheet used as a format reference: numbered advisories with a description and a workaround, and a revision history that records which entries changed.
Where it helps
The lifecycle stages this tool serves: 12 stages in 8 lifecycles.
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Terms on this page
- Workaround
- A way of avoiding a known silicon defect in software, firmware, board design or usage rules, so the part can ship without a respin.
- Silicon errata
- The vendor's published list of ways a manufactured device deviates from its specification, each with conditions, impact and a recommended software or hardware workaround.
- Errata
- A published list of known deviations between a silicon revision's actual behaviour and its documented specification, with severity and workarounds.
- Silicon
- The group IV element that carries almost all commercial semiconductor volume, valued for its abundance, its stable native oxide and a manufacturing base refined over sixty years.
- Document control
- The quality system process that makes sure controlled documents, such as specifications, procedures and drawings, are reviewed, approved, versioned, distributed and withdrawn in an orderly way, so...
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