Author's Latest Posts


Fabrication Of Vertical-Taper Structures For Silicon Photonic Devices By Using Local-Thickness-Thinning Process


Authors: Shunsuke Abe, Hideo Hara, Shin Masuda, and Hirohito Yamada. This paper describes a simple fabrication process of verticaltaper structures which can locally tune the thickness of silicon photonic devices. For low-loss spot-size conversion, taper angles less than 10° are required. To fabricate the gradual-slope shape of the vertical tapers, we have developed a step-andexposure lithog... » read more

Unlocking Value: The Power of AI in Semiconductor Test


AI (Artificial Intelligence) and data analytics empower semiconductor manufacturers to extract valuable insights from the massive amounts of data generated throughout the silicon lifecycle. By leveraging AI algorithms, semiconductor manufacturers can optimize silicon design, assembly, and testing processes. Through the analysis of vast datasets, AI can identify patterns, predict failures, and o... » read more

Application For Non-Destructive Inspection


IC chip internal measurement We attempted to apply the Hadatomo Z photoacoustic microscope for non-destructive inspection. One of the features of the HadatomoTM Z is simultaneous measurement using photoacoustic imaging and ultrasound imaging. By using an ultrasonic sensor with cen- ter frequency of 60 MHz, high-resolution imaging is possible. Photoacoustic imaging is a method to re... » read more

The Development Of Front-End Module For 5G Millimeter-Wave Device Testing


This article describes the development of a front-end module for 5G millimeter-wave device testing. 5G millimeter-wave is planned to be used up to the 53 GHz band. Our challenges are to optimize the performance of our test system up to that frequency band including wide power range of EVM performance, and to add a new one-port S-Parameter measurement function. We describe the elemental technolo... » read more

Open-Short Normalization Method For A Quick Defect Identification In Branched Traces With High-Resolution Time-Domain Reflectometry


Time-domain reflectometry (TDR) that employs electro-optical sampling affords excellent resolution at the femtosecond level and exhibits a comprehensible impulse waveform, thereby allowing quick defect identification in a single trace. However, it remains challenging to identify a defect in a trace of multiple branches; the TDR waveform is complex. Generally, the TDR waveform of a defective uni... » read more

GaN 8Gbps High-Speed Relay MMIC For Automated Test Equipment


An 8 Gbps high-speed relay MMIC for an Automated Test Equipment (ATE) using a gallium nitride is developed and evaluated. Metal-Insulator-Semiconductor structure with a tantalum oxynitride is employed to reduce a leakage current for ATE applications. The fabricated MMIC shows 0.3 nA of the leakage current, 12 GHz of a -3 dB bandwidth, and excellent eye-opening of 8 Gbps signals with a 18-lead... » read more

Over-The-Air (OTA) Test Socket And Handler Integration Technology For 5G Mass Production Testing


This paper presents the integration of socket, measurement antenna and handler for over-the-air (OTA) testing of antenna-in-package (AiP) devices using automated test equipment (ATE) for 5G applications. The design and characteristics of sockets for performing OTA testing in the radiating near field are also discussed. The paper also describes the structure of OTA handler integration using thes... » read more

High-Speed Image Processing By GPU


By using CPU and GPU together, we have increased the speed of the filter function that is often used in imaging tests. This feature is provided by the Image Processing Library (IPL) in T2000 CMOS Image Sensor Solution. Next IPE, our new image processing engine that is currently in development, is about six times faster than IPE3 (Image Processing Engine 3), an existing engine. Author: Chiezo... » read more

Development Of High Voltage General-Purpose Pin-Electronics


Currently, there is a demand in Automated Test Equipment (ATE) to test both high-speed/low-voltage amplitude devices manufactured in advanced processes and low-speed / high-voltage amplitude devices manufactured in legacy processes by a pin-electronics equipment. However, it is difficult to achieve both the operating speed over than 1Gbps and the wide I/O range over than 10Vpp, due to the trade... » read more

A Novel Memory Test System With An Electromagnet For STT-MRAM Testing


We have successfully developed, for the first time, a new memory test system for STT-MRAM at wafer-level where an electromagnet is combined with a memory test system and a 300 mm wafer prober. In the developed memory test system, an out-of-plane magnetic field up to ±800 mT can be applied on 10 x 10 mm2 in the 300 mm wafer with distribution of less than 2.5%. We demonstrated that the electroma... » read more

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