Flexible, Massively Parallel RF Device Testing Is Here

By Adrian Kwan, Business Development Manager, Advantest America

Today’s interconnected world provides great conveniences and many opportunities for staying in touch with family, friends and colleagues – not to mention our physical environment and our own health. Our daily lives are replete with smartphones, tablets, cameras, RFID tags, and wearable/sensor-driven devices – all of which require semiconductor ICs to perform to specification. In the wearables category alone, industry estimates project an annual $5-8 billion demand for ICs to supply this market, driven by requirements for low power, connectivity, sensors, and touch and voice interfaces.

All of these devices are connected through a variety of wireless standards: LTE, LTE-Advanced and LTE-A Pro smartphone standards, as well as LTE-M, WLAN, GPS, ZigBee and Bluetooth. This surfeit of standards creates technological complexities, as these wireless technologies – many of which are enabling the Internet of Things (IoT) – have unique requirements and performance criteria that differ depending upon the application. In addition, while 3G/4G LTE technology currently drives the majority of cellular data traffic and covers the most frequencies, 5G is lurking on the horizon and will bring new production challenges.

Devices based on all of these wireless technologies must be fully tested and characterized before they can be brought to market. This makes flexibility and scalability of automated test equipment (ATE) a fundamental requirement. Advantest is answering this demand with new offerings specifically developed to accommodate the testing demands associated with current and emerging RF chips.

Advantest’s Wave Scale™ generation of channel cards for the V93000 “universal pin” test platform represents a paradigm shift in testing RF and mixed-signal devices, delivering unprecedented levels of parallelism and throughput unmatched by other solutions.  The V93000 Wave Scale RF and V93000 Wave Scale MX cards substantially reduce the cost of test and time to market for RF semiconductors while creating a path for testing future 5G devices.

Current RF testing solutions, which typically require multiple cards plus a separate calibration kit, have employed a fan-out architecture in which subsystem resources are shared. This means that devices with multiple frequency paths are actually tested in serial within the device, rather than in true parallel mission mode testing. It also means that only one RF standard can be tested at a time per site. The V93000 Wave Scale RF condenses four independent RF subsystems into one fully integrated instrument with massive parallelism – as many as 32 ports on each unit, with up 6 units in each system provides the flexibility of up to 192 ports for parallel testing of multiple RF device types. This is enabled via in-site parallelism, in which shared resources are omitted, thus removing the limitations placed on test speedup by other RF test solutions.

Wave Scale RF and corresponding Wave Scale MX cards can simultaneously test multiple standards or multiple paths within each RF device, achieving both in-site parallelism and high multi-site efficiency. Devices can be tested 2-3x faster than with prior solutions – significantly reducing the cost of test. This is a key requirement for OEMs and fabless semiconductor companies needing to get volume RF-enabled devices to market as quickly as possible.

Both Wave Scale RF and Wave Scale MX feature built-in calibration, and both are water-cooled at the pin electronics level to maintain consistent temperature across all pins. The Wave Scale MX high-speed card is optimized for analog IQ baseband applications and testing of high-speed DACs and ADCs. As with Wave Scale RF, Wave Scale MX omits shared resources, delivering parallel, independent operation of all 32 instruments controlled by a hardware sequencer.

Device integration, market segmentation and performance improvements are the inevitable result of consumer demands for more capability, convenience and mobility. Advantest is leading the way for next-generation RF ATE with its new V93000 Wave Scale solutions, designed to simultaneously support the diverse performance and economic needs of new RF device standards.

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Testing Ultra-Fast Memories…Ultra Fast

By Ken Hanh Lai, Director of Memory Marketing, Memory Business Development

Advanced high-speed test is becoming increasingly important as ultra-fast memory ICs are integrated into a greater number of end products. High-speed memory test systems need to accommodate this trend and offer advanced memory test capabilities for such high-speed ICs. One key category of high-speed memories is GDDR5 (graphics double data rate memory), designed for use in graphics cards, game consoles, and high-performance computational products. These devices include a high-speed parallel data bus that operates at around 8 gigabits per second (Gbps) today and is targeted to go up to 16 Gbps in the future (GDDR5X, GDDR6).

Other fast memory ICs operate using high-speed serial interfaces. Often, a serial bus can be operated at higher overall data rates than a parallel bus because a serial bus inherently has no timing skew or crosstalk. Examples of this include Universal Serial Bus (USB) and PCI Express (PCIe).  The benefits of these implementations include cost-effective, lower-pin-count designs.

These new memory test challenges are being addressed by the new HSM16G, a fully integrated memory test card recently introduced by Advantest (Figure 1). The card extends the high-speed testing capabilities of the company’s V93000 HSM series of testers to native 16 Gbps for at-speed testing of ultra-fast memory ICs. The card provides 32 channels, which are set up as 8 differential receive (RX) and transmit (TX) lines in the 16-Gbps operation mode. Additionally, the card can be switched to two lower-speed operating modes: an HSM8G-compatible operating mode for up to 8-Gbps operation and a 32-channel I/O base mode for up to 1.8-Gbps operation.

Figure 1.  Advantest HSM16G card for ultra-fast-memory test.

The V93000 HSM Series with the HSM16G card provides ultra high-speed memory test capabilities in a cost-effective, small-footprint tester, making it well suited for engineering, design verification, and characterization. Other, less-fast testers have to perform complex multiplexing using lower speed channels  with add-on solutions to reach the speeds needed to test future GDDR5 and other high-speed devices. Because of the subsequent multiplexing, algorithmic pattern generation (APG) is significantly restricted, and only a limited feature set is available for characterization and debugging. The HSM16G card avoids these constraints thanks to its native 16-Gbps speed.

The new card features comprehensive measurement capabilities, including per-pin algorithmic pattern generation to test any kind of fault algorithm and fail bitmap capture. Programmable equalization allows for cable-loss compensation and rise-time control to support the highest signal integrity. A precision per-pin clock with less than 1 picosecond (ps) jitter enables the industry’s most accurate jitter measurements. Further capabilities that set the HSM16G apart are its per-pin-based arbitrary jitter modulation for device characterization and stress test, as well as a set of integrated analysis tools. Key volume-production features include per-pin embedded searches for rapid alignment to the center of the data eye, fast eye measurements to screen for both eye height and eye width, and an integrated time measurement unit (TMU) for accurate jitter measurements.

For memory ICs with serial bus interfaces such as PCIe and Universal Flash Storage (UFS), the HSM16G card offers comprehensive physical layer test (PHY characterization). This enables the card to cover all memory devices with high-speed serial interfaces or high-speed parallel memory buses.

Fully compatible with the V93000 HSM series’ hardware and software, the HSM16G card can be factory installed or retrofit onto a customer’s installed tester base. It enables reuse of existing test programs for HSM testers, with minimal adaptation, letting customers quickly set up the new card and get to work.

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Advantest Achieves Top 30 Ranking from Green Power Partners

Continuing Advantest America, Inc.’s commitment to conducting its business in a manner that delivers leading environmental, health and safety performance, AAI is very proud to have entered its 5th year having earned a spot on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Top 30 Tech & Telecom list, which ranks the country’s largest green power users in this sector.  A new web tool from the EPA shows Advantest America (currently 27th) as well as the other Green Power Partners on the list.

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Green Partner Power Partner Map

Advantest Ranks Among 10 BEST Large Chip Equipment Suppliers for 28th Year Running

Leading industry analyst firm VLSIresearch Inc recently released the results of its annual Customer Satisfaction Survey ranking the 10 BEST Large Suppliers of Chip Making Equipment. For the 28^th consecutive year, Advantest was named to the coveted list, achieving the #2 spot and increasing its overall satisfaction rating to 9.12 (out of 10). The company has seen continual improvement in this rating for each of the past six years, and it earned scores of 9 or more in 13 of the 15 categories included in the survey.

A white paper issued by VLSIresearch details Advantest’s survey results – including the firm’s assessment of Advantest’s successful approach to customer satisfaction.

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Advantest Hosts 10th Anniversary VOICE 2016 Developer Conference

Advantest marked the 10^th anniversary of its VOICE 2016 Developer Conference this year with 129 technical breakout sessions, two Partners’ Expos, 17 technology kiosks and multiple networking opportunities for members of the semiconductor test industry at dual events in San Diego, Calif., on May 10-11, and at Taiwan’s first VOICE conference in Hsinchu on May 18. Altogether, a record high of nearly 600 people attended the events, including 300 industry professionals in Taiwan – the most ever for a VOICE location outside of the United States.

At the U.S. session, there were 99 technical presentations – 20 more than last year – while the Taiwan conference featured 30 papers – six more than 2015’s VOICE event in Shanghai.  Advantest customers accounted for the majority of this year’s paper authors. Sixty percent of the papers in San Diego and 53 percent in Taiwan were either customer authored or co-authored.  In total, VOICE 2016 featured technical papers from 35 companies representing 12 countries, including the first participation from Ireland.  The event’s international appeal and the diversity of its seven technical tracks covering the newest semiconductor test methodologies continue to attract new participants, with 44 first-time attendees.

VOICE is managed by a steering committee of volunteer representatives from Advantest and its customers, and is the leading conference for the growing international community of users and strategic partners involved with Advantest’s T2000 and V93000 SoC test platforms as well as Advantest memory testers, handlers and test cell solutions.  Attendees gain and share valuable insights, build long-lasting relationships and learn what’s new about Advantest test equipment, handlers and applications, as well as technology trends that are not related to specific equipment.

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Advantest’s VOICE 2016 Developer Conference Issues International Call for Papers

Advantest has issued an international call for papers on semiconductor test solutions, best practices and innovative technologies for its tenth annual VOICE Developer Conference. Based on the success of holding VOICE sessions in China and the U.S. this year, the 2016 conference will again be held on both sides of the Pacific Ocean — in San Diego, California on May 10-11 and in Hsinchu, Taiwan on May 18 — with the unifying theme of “10 Wonders of Technology” in recognition of the 10th anniversary of VOICE.

VOICE 2016 will offer attendees comprehensive learning and networking opportunities, including technical presentations, a partners’ exposition, social gatherings and the first-ever presentation track focused on new solutions in design technology and materials for loadboards and probe cards from various companies. In addition, the San Diego event will be the site of interactive discussion sessions for users of Advantest’s V93000 and T2000 system-on-a-chip (SoC) test platforms, memory testers, handlers, test cell solutions, product engineering and test technology.

International Attendance

Each year, the world’s semiconductor industry personnel from leading integrated device manufacturers (IDMs), foundries, fabless semiconductor companies and outsourced assembly and test (OSAT) providers come together at VOICE to share ideas and information as colleagues.

“VOICE has always been an engineering conference — created by test engineers for test engineers — for sharing useful, relevant solutions and best practices that can be applied directly to today’s most pressing test challenges,” said Mark Nagel, chairman of VOICE 2016 and Advantest staff applications engineer. “Now with the expansion of VOICE to include product engineering content, our 2016 conference is a can’t-miss event. As we mark VOICE’s tenth anniversary, we’ll be celebrating how this developer conference has evolved and grown with the IC test industry while also recognizing the people and innovations that have made VOICE so successful. I invite the world’s test community to join us in paradise — the beautiful Paradise Point Resort & Spa in San Diego — and/or at our second international location, in Hsinchu, Taiwan.”

Informative Technical Presentations

The VOICE 2016 call for papers focuses on seven technology tracks:

• Hot Topics concerns new market drivers and future trends including security and encryption, emerging wireless standards, test challenges at next-generation technology nodes, the Internet of Things (IoT), automotive solutions and smart houses.
• Device-Specific Testing covers techniques for testing MCUs, ASICs, PMICs, automotive radar, sensors, memory, baseband, cellular, multi-chip packages and more.
• Hardware Design and Integration includes tester/handler integration, probe and package loadboard design challenges of new package technologies and fine-pitch devices, and more.
• Improving Throughput addresses test-time reduction, increased multi-site efficiency, concurrent testing, data analysis, and more.
• Reducing Time to Market encompasses DFT, pattern simulations/cyclization, automatic test program generation, system-level test, and more.
• New Hardware/Software Test Solutions focuses on solutions utilizing the latest hardware or software features.
• Test Methodologies involves techniques for testing DC, RF, mixed-signal or high-speed digital devices.

Test developers are invited to submit their abstracts for consideration at either the San Diego or Taiwan locations, or both, by going to https://voice.advantest.com/call-for-papers. All submissions must be received by November 20, 2015. Accepted presenters will be notified in January 2016. Audience members at the conference sessions in May 2016 will vote for the best papers, with winning presenters receiving prizes.

Attending VOICE 2016

VOICE 2016 registration will open in January. Industry members interested in attending the San Diego event can reserve hotel rooms now by calling 1-800-344-2626 and mentioning Advantest America or by visiting the hotel’s website. To arrange hotel rooms for the Taiwan event in Hsinchu, email mktgcomms@advantest.com.

For more information about the VOICE 2016 Developer Conference, including sponsorship opportunities, please visit https://voice.advantest.com/ or email mktgcomms@advantest.com.