tag: ATE

Memory Test Challenges, Opportunities
By Jeff Dorsch - 18 Oct, 2017 - Comments: 0

The semiconductor capital equipment market is on fire, and the memory chip test equipment sector is no different. But it is getting much more difficult on the memory side. Memory test vendors are contending with next-generation devices, such as 3D NAND flash memories, HBM2 chips, low-power double-data-rate DRAMs, graphics DRAMs, phase-change memories, magnetoresistive RAMs, and resistive RAM... » read more

The 2017 International Test Conference
By Jeff Dorsch - 09 Oct, 2017 - Comments: 0

Machine learning is a hot topic at many technical conferences this year. It will be true at the upcoming International Test Conference, which opens near the end of this month in Fort Worth, Texas. On Sunday, October 29, there are two tutorials devoted to machine learning. Monday, October 30, will have one tutorial related to the topic. The conference gets fully under way on Halloween, wit... » read more

Is It Safe To Assume That All “Passed” Die Are Actually “Good” Die?
By Guy Cortez - 09 Oct, 2017 - Comments: 0

In a world where Quality and Brand Protection is King, as certainly is the case for the automotive and medical device industries where strict minimal DPPM (defective parts per million) requirements are a common constraint, new methods for “escape” prevention and outlier detection are constantly being evaluated and implemented by semiconductor vendors to prevent any defective or marginal par... » read more

Whither Xcerra?
By Jeff Dorsch - 11 Sep, 2017 - Comments: 0

Trade tensions between the People’s Republic of China and the Trump Administration could sink a big transaction in the automatic test equipment business. Xcerra, a supplier of semiconductor test systems, board testers, and electronic interconnects, announced in April that it had accepted an offer from Unic Capital Management, an affiliate of Sino IC Capital, to acquire the company for $10.... » read more

A Tale of Two Testers
By Jeff Dorsch - 07 Aug, 2017 - Comments: 0

David Tacelli, president and CEO of Xcerra, was excited. His company’s reception for customers (and the press) at the Trou Normand restaurant in San Francisco’s hip South of Market neighborhood was going very well. Gourmet salames and other tasty foods were on offer, along with fine wines and craft ales and beers. He gleefully pointed out to editors that the product to be introduced at t... » read more

Testing IoT Devices
By Jeff Dorsch - 05 Jun, 2017 - Comments: 3

Internet of Things devices present new challenges in testing. Some devices can be tested the same way as standard semiconductors are now tested, but others call for different approaches. Microcontrollers and other chips that go into safety-critical applications — medical devices, military/aerospace systems, and automotive electronics — need their own kind of testing to make sure they wil... » read more

The Future of Testing
By Jeff Dorsch - 08 May, 2017 - Comments: 0

In our previous test blog posts, we looked at the history of automated test equipment for semiconductors and for printed circuit boards. This month, we look ahead to the test technologies that are emerging. The chip ATE field has essentially boiled down to Advantest, Teradyne, and Xcerra (LTX-Credence), while the board test market is dominated by Teradyne and Keysight Technologies (formerly ... » read more

Time For Massively Parallel Testing
By Jeff Dorsch - 12 Apr, 2017 - Comments: 0

Time is money in electronics, as in other industries, and the more time that is invested in testing chips means more costs being added to the product in question. To speed up testing for memory devices and other semiconductors, test equipment vendors have resorted to parallel testing technology, simultaneously testing multiple chips at a time. The industry also is turning to system-level tes... » read more

How Testing MEMS, Sensors Is Different
By Jeff Dorsch - 10 Apr, 2017 - Comments: 2

When it comes to testing microelectromechanical system devices and sensors, sometimes you have to shake and bake. [getkc id="311" comment="MEMS"] and [getkc id="187" kc_name="sensors"] are physically different from standard ICs. They require a specific type of stimulus to get the required testing results. Most chips only need to have an electrical charge run through them to gauge their pass/... » read more

A Brief History of Test
By Jeff Dorsch - 06 Mar, 2017 - Comments: 5

The history of semiconductor test systems is the subject of this blog post. We’ll turn to printed circuit board testing at another time. Boston-based Teradyne sold its D133 diode tester to Raytheon in 1961. Five years later, it introduced the J259 integrated circuit tester, which had a minicomputer to run the test programs. For many, this marks the beginning of automatic (or automated) tes... » read more

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