Analogue pin module tests SoCs for IoT & mobiles

“By expanding our V93000 single scalable platform to enable advanced testing of analog and power devices, this platform can now cover the entire portfolio from low-pin-count ICs to complex, highly integrated SoCs (system-on-chips),” said Hans-Juergen Wagner, senior vice president of the SoC Product Group at Advantest Corporation. “We’ve achieved industry-leading utilization by combining power/analogue testing with full SoC test coverage, allowing us to address the mega-trend of emerging IoT applications, from smart homes to smart cities and beyond.”

The IoT market is driving the development of new generations of SoC designs with integrated capabilities including analog sensing, mobile computing, wireless communications and high-efficiency power management. These smart devices combine more analogue and power functions on an IC than ever before, enabling advances such as longer battery life for handheld mobile electronics and emerging automotive applications for smart and connected cars.

With the AVI64 universal analogue pin module, Advantest’s V93000 tester has all of the functionality needed to test advanced SoC devices.

The module’s highly integrated design allows it to perform more test operations with fewer channel cards. This not only leads to a smaller system footprint, but also improves expandability, flexibility, loadboard simplification and multi-site testing efficiency while achieving the industry’s lowest cost of test. The total cost-of-test savings are substantial compared to competitors’ systems that rely on a fleet of cards to deliver the same test results.

Using Advantest’s universal pin architecture, the AVI64 empowers each pin with all of the test capabilities that it needs including per-pin arbitrary waveform generator (AWG) and digitisers, per-pin high-voltage time measurement units (TMU) and per-pin high-voltage digital I/O.

Furthermore, the AVI64 offers floating high-current units, differential voltage measurements, an integrated analog switch matrix and the ability to precisely measure voltage and current parameters simultaneously at every pin.

Along with a high density of 64 channels per instrument, the module has the broad performance capabilities to test a wide range of ICs including precision analog, high-voltage digital, mixed-signal, smart sensors and high-current semiconductors.

These features enable the AVI64 universal analog pin unit to deliver best-in-class testing accuracy per pin with maximum utilisation of test resources and industry-leading throughput.

Among the new module’s key capabilities for testing smart devices is its Domain Sync feature for aligning the timing between analog and digital signals at the device under test (DUT). In addition, the system’s high multi-site efficiency and smooth, glitch-free operation streamlines time to market and time to quality for new IC designs.

The AVI64 universal analogue pin module is already in use at multiple customer sites and Advantest has received an order from a leading fabless design house in China.