(September 22, 2010) — Multitest announces that one of the world’s largest fab-less semiconductor manufacturers has evaluated Mercury-based wafer-scale contactors and found them superior to their previous traditional, POGO-style spring pin solution. The Mercury contactors have eight sites and nearly 200 spring probes per site. Over thirty contactors have been purchased to support increasing production volume.

The contactors have been deployed to multiple testing subcontractors in Taiwan and Singapore. The subcontractors report that the Mercury contactors provide a 4-6% yield improvement over the previous contacting solution resulting in significant cost-of-test savings. Additionally, the subcontractors are pleased with the Mercury contactors’ long life, low maintenance requirements, and low replacement probe price.

The Mercury line includes contactors for singulated devices, strip test, and wafer-scale test. Mercury claims improved mechanical and electrical performance that results from its architecture and manufacturing process.

The probes have a bandwidth of approximately 20 GHz, a current-carrying capacity of over 2 amps, an inductance of approximately 1 nH, and a life of 500-800 k insertions (values are pitch-dependent).

For more information, visit www.multitest.com/Mercury

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