July 17, 2007 — /PRNewswire/ — SAN FRANCISCO, CA — Advantest Corporation, a leading supplier of semiconductor test equipment, is demonstrating its new, comprehensive hardware and software test cell solution for a range of complex consumer devices at SEMICON West, Booth 7347, July 17-19 at San Francisco’s Moscone Center.

Advantest is the only ATE company that has for decades designed and manufactured its own handlers and interfaces in addition to its test systems and software, and is uniquely qualified to tightly integrate and optimize the entire test cell. Advantest’s new SoC test cell solution is unique for its single-vendor tester-handler integration, bringing highly parallel, high- performance turn-key testing capabilities to SoC consumer device manufacturing. State-of-the-art handler technology presents an additional opportunity for lowering the cost of ownership (CoO) of the test cell.

Advantest’s new SoC test cell solution has a number of unique features that offer semiconductor designers, manufacturers and assembly-test companies high performance, high accuracy, and turn-key ease of use at low cost of test:

• A complete test-cell solution that includes a high-throughput, high-performance handler as well as a test system and test software for high-volume manufacturing environments and streamlined customer set-up, operations and support.
• Optimized handler-tester connectivity for superb uptime, reliability, and ease of use.
• Parallel testing of 16 high-pincount consumer devices with throughput of up to 18,500 UPH for highest industry performance.
• OPENSTAR(R)-compliant open test system architecture and the latest pick-and-place handler technology providing flexibility and scalability that leverage customers’ ATE investment while meeting the challenges of testing complex, increasingly sophisticated IC technology.
• An extremely compact ATE footprint, resulting in real estate and operating savings.
• A variety of state-of-the-art, feature-rich applications for high-speed digital and analog devices used in the latest consumer products.
• Modular design for easy, rapid accommodation of a variety of applications.

At Semicon, Advantest is demonstrating its new T2000 LS mainframe (T2000LSMF) linked to its new M4841 Dynamic Test Handler, running together with two new applications modules, an 800MDM and a 32-channel PMU.

This powerful test cell — the T2000 LS mainframe coupled with the M4841 Handler — will be demonstrating a 16-site analog and digital test of an MCU with an embedded DAC, using Advantest’s newest applications modules. The test-cell demonstration shows the testing of a microcontroller complete with a broad spectrum of digital and analog tests. Of special note is the very high multi-site testing efficiency achieved by the highly parallel, single-vendor testing environment.

The 800MDM combines low cost with high-speed operation and very high channel densities. With 128 channels per module (up to 6000 channels per system) the 800MDM module supports a level of parallel testing which is new to the SOC industry. In addition to its high density and speed, the 800MDM provides special hardware features focused on speedy testing of source- synchronous interfaces. It features SCAN test, memory test and multiple time domains.

The PMU32 provides the analog complement to the 800MDM, offering high channel density and high performance on a single test system module. In addition to traditional DC measurements, this module provides a low cost solution for ADC/DAC testing and other analog functions commonly found on consumer handheld products. It also offers fine low-level resolution of down to 25 uV as well as wide voltage range of up to +40V.

OPENSTAR(R) compliant and designed for compactness and modularity, Advantest’s T2000 LS mainframe is a low-cost test system for today’s high- functionality SoC consumer devices. Demand is ongoing and growing for analog, digital and mixed signal devices that provide features and mobile communications for increasingly sophisticated consumer electronics as well as automotive, medical, transportation and other infrastructure applications. These highly sophisticated, densely designed integrated circuits (ICs) and the fast-paced, price-sensitive markets they are targeted to require test solutions that meet their technical challenges as well as their cost challenges. Advantest designed the T2000 LSMF and its entire test cell solution to meet these needs.

The test head of the LS mainframe is designed to accommodate different modules for the varied applications needed to test complex SoCs. Offering high-speed analog and digital test capability to perform highly parallel testing of complex SOC devices, Advantest’s new solution delivers significant cost reduction and a smaller footprint, together with greater performance and versatility.

Advantest’s M4841 Dynamic Handler is a high-throughput handler for volume testing consumer devices such as MCUs and DSPs, and supports complex ICs and their advanced packaging technologies, including BGA, CSP and QFP.

Capable of parallel testing up to 16 devices, the M4841 doubles the capability of the earlier industry-leading handler, also from Advantest. The M4841 delivers a high throughput of 18,500 devices-per-hour — 3X the throughput capacity of its predecessor — setting a new industry standard.

Technological innovations, such as Soft Touch handling using electro- pneumatic air pressure to avoid damaging extremely miniaturized parts during touchdowns, also contribute to the M4841’s performance and suitability for dense, new micro consumer devices.

In addition to high test parallelism, the modular design of the M4841 handler provides options for parallelism, temperature range and device processing capacity, thus enabling customers to select the optimal configuration for their testing requirements. This reduces installation costs and, with an industry standard setting low jam rate and low mis-contact rate, contributes to overall lower cost of test.

The two new digital solutions available for the test cell are the latest in a suite of Advantest’s digital consumer solutions. The full suite includes two new analog modules (AAWGD for audio and BBWGD for BaseBand and video) with twice the channel counts of alternative solutions, and a 6.5GDM for high-speed interface test.

About Advantest
Advantest Corporation is the world’s leading supplier of automatic test equipment (ATE) to the semiconductor industry. Advantest’s SoC, logic, memory, mixed-signal and RF testers and device handlers are integrated into the most advanced semiconductor fabrication lines in the world. Founded in Tokyo in 1954, Advantest established its North American subsidiary in 1982 and its European subsidiary in 1984. More information is available at http://www.advantest.com/.

Source: Advantest Corporation