National Instruments, Austin, Texas, introduces its Semiconductor Test Systems (STS), which feature PXI modular instrumentation and open system design software for semiconductor test environments. Unlike traditional ATE systems that incur costs as old generations of equipment become obsolete, the STS open architecture allows engineers to retain their investments and easily scale. Its compact design reduces costs for floor space, power, and maintenance, and is ideal for characterization and production to decrease time to market.
The PXI-based STS combines modular instrumentation and system design software for RF and mixed-signal production tests. The STS features fully production-ready test systems that use National Instruments (NI) technology in a form factor suitable for a semiconductor production test environment.
The STS combines the NI PXI platform, TestStand test management software, and LabView graphical programming inside a fully enclosed test head. Its “tester in a head” design houses all the key components of a production tester, including system controllers; DC, AC, and RF instrumentation; device under test interfacing; and device handler/prober docking mechanics.
The STS series consists of three test system sizes — T1, T2, and T4 — that accommodate one, two, and four 18-slot PXI chassis, respectively. All test systems support common interfacing infrastructure, so they can scale up to meet exact pin-count and site-count requirements in production, as well as scale down for characterization. This ability to scale with common hardware and software infrastructure helps to not only optimize system costs, but also to simplify data correlation from production to characterization.
