Serial Vector Format (SVF) files are used when programming XC9500 devices on automatic test equipment (ATE). The JTAG Programmer allows you to create .svf files for use with ATE systems. To do this you need to create a new SVF file:
Output 
Create SVF File...
The Create a New SVF File dialog box will appear.
Figure 3.16 Create an SVF File |  |
Select a name and a directory to create the new file in, then click OK. To append your vectors to an existing SVF file, use:
Output Append to SVF File...
The Append to an Existing SVF File dialog box will appear.
Figure 3.17 Append to an SVF File | |
Select a file to append to and click OK.
Program, Verify, Erase, Functional Test, Get Device ID and Get Signature/Usercode are allowed operations in SVF mode.
After identifying the SVF file to be used for collection of SVF data, operate on the devices in your boundary-scan chain in the manner described previously. Remember that in SVF mode, chain editing operations are not allowed to ensure that the resulting SVF file will be self-consistent.
Xilinx provides software on the Xilinx Website that converts SVF files into ATE vectors. Visit our site at www.xilinx.com for more information.
If you generated SVF files for XC95108 or XC95216 Version 0 devices, the files will work without modification on any later version devices. If you wish, however, to take advantage of improved ISP capabilities available on later version silicon devices, and you are certain that you have such devices in your boundary-scan chain, then you can generate version specific SVF files using the following techniques:
Invoke the tool to generate SVF files:
jtagprog -svf
When specifying the part_type in the part command identify Version 1 silicon by appending “_vn” to the part name (where n is the version number device being used). For example, to specify a chain of Version 1 XC95216s and XC95108s:
part xc95216_v1:design216a xc95108_v1:design108 xc95216_v1:design216b
Next, specify operations as usual to generate the required SVF files.
In your $XILINX/data directory you will notice BSDL files with the following names:
xc95108.bsd
xc95108_v1.bsd
xc95216.bsd
xc95216_v1.bsd
The BSDL files with the “_v1” in their names describe the Version 1 silicon. Similarly, those with “_v2” are for Version 2 devices. To get the software to use Version 1 BSDL files for all devices, you must “trick” the application by renaming files as follows:
Invoke the JTAG Programmer and set it to generate SVF files as described earlier in this section. When you use the JTAG Programmer, it will default to using the xc95216.bsd and xc95108.bsd files to describe the parts. This will allow access to all Version 1 features.
When you are done programming, remember to change the file names back so that the software will work correctly in non-SVF modes:
