Semiconductor test system cuts cost, boosts throughput

7th August 2014

NI-Emerson

Mick Elliott

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Datasheet

PXI-based automated test systems that reduce test cost for RF and mixed-signal devices by opening access to NI- and industry-offered PXI modules in semiconductor production test environments have been unveiled at NIWeek. The Semiconductor Test Series (STS) can increase throughput and perform both characterisation and production with the same hardware and software tools. This decreases data correlation time and time to market.

Powered by TestStand test management software and LabVIEW system design software, the test system comes with a rich set of features for semiconductor production environments, including a customisable operator interface, handler/prober integration, device-centric programming with pin-channel mapping, standard test data format reporting and integrated multisite support.

With these features, engineers can quickly develop, debug and deploy test programs, shortening overall time to market. Additionally with the fully enclosed “zero-footprint” test head, standard interfacing and docking mechanics, STS comes ready to integrate into a semiconductor production test cell. The STS series includes three different models named T1, T2 and T4, which accommodate one, two and four PXI chassis, respectively.

These varying sizes, along with common software, instrumentation and interconnect mechanics across all STS models give engineers the ability to optimise for a wide range of pin-count and site-count requirements. Additionally, the scalability of STS makes it practical to deploy from characterisation to production with the benefit of not only optimised cost, but greatly simplified data correlation to further shorten time to market.