March 2023 Issue

TOP STORIES

Innovative Memory Test Cell Leverages Scalable Parallelism and Compact Footprint for Final Test

Products ranging from datacenter servers to automobiles require more and faster memory ICs, which must be thoroughly yet cost-effectively tested. As these chips evolve to provide ever higher levels of performance and quality, they are placing increasing demands on the test floor. An effective test solution must meet final-test requirements presented by the increasing bit densities, the power consumption, and the faster interface speeds of evolving memory devices. Read More.

New Power-Supply Card Targets High-Voltage PMIC Test

The electronics industry is seeing a move toward higher voltages and currents to deliver sufficient supply and charging power in products ranging from handheld cellphones and tablets to workstations. This trend is evidenced in examples such as the many USB power-delivery (PD) profiles with ratings ranging from 10W (5V at 2A for USB PD 3.0 profile 1) up to 100W (5V at 2A, 12V at 5A, and 20V at 5A up to the 100W limit for profile 5). In addition to higher power levels, today’s consumer products are exhibiting an increasing number of voltage domains, and they require power-management integrated circuits (PMICs) to manage the various voltage levels required for battery charging and other functionalities. Read More.

Data Analytics for the Chiplet Era

Moore’s Law has provided the semiconductor industry’s marching orders for device advancement over the past five decades. Chipmakers were successful in continually finding ways to shrink the transistor, which enabled fitting more circuits into a smaller space while keeping costs down. Today, however, Moore’s Law is slowing as costs increase and traditional MOS transistor scaling have reached its practical limits. Read More.

Device Validation: The Ultimate Test Frontier

In the early days of space exploration, spacecraft were manned by small teams of astronauts, most of whom were experienced test pilots who intimately understood their vehicles and the interaction between all the variables controlling the craft. Similarly, early integrated circuits (ICs) were created by small teams of engineers, who often designed, laid out, and even developed tests for their devices. Notably, the tests were most often functional, and the test interfaces were often analog. Over the years, ICs have become much more complicated, and team size and group effort have grown exponentially. Today, the fundamental limitation to continued industry growth is no longer gate length, but team size and strength. Read More.

GO POLL

A “digital twin” is an exact replica of a real-world item—anything from a machine to a building and even a city—that’s created digitally. Digital twins integrate artificial intelligence, machine learning and software analytics to create these digital replicas whose physical assets change as their physical counterparts change.

Which do you consider the most critical market(s) for this fast-growing technology?

Share your thoughts by taking the GO POLL. Have an idea for future polls? Email gosemi@advantest.com

SPOTLIGHT ON BUSINESS

Interview with VOICE 2023 Chairpersons

Advantest’s VOICE 2023 Developer Conference will take place May 9-10 at the Santa Clara (California) Marriott. To learn what VOICE 2023 holds in store for attendees, we interviewed this year’s chairpersons: Linda Haenel, VOICE 2023 technical chair, application consultant, Performance Digital Center of Expertise, Advantest Europe; and Matt Borto, VOICE 2023 general chair, senior manager, test engineering, Analog Devices. Read More.

FEATURED PRODUCTS

E5620 DR-SEM for Review and Classification of Ultra-Small Photomask Defects Unveiled

In December 2022, Advantest unveiled the E5620 Defect Review Scanning Electron Microscope (DR-SEM), its newest mask SEM product for reviewing and classifying ultra-small defects on photomasks and mask blanks. With its high-accuracy, high-throughput defect review capability, the E5620 DR-SEM is expected to contribute appreciably to production quality improvements in next-generation photomasks and shorter mask manufacturing turnaround times. Read More.

New inteXcell Series Offers High-Performance, Economical Test Cells for Advanced Memory ICs

Advantest has launched inteXcell, a new line of minimal-footprint test cells designed to address demanding final-test requirements presented by the increasing bit densities, lower power consumption and faster interface speeds of future memory devices. This new final test cell infrastructure integrates a T5835 memory tester optimized for use in high-productivity test cells and is designed to adopt future memory solutions. With inteXcell, ICs can be tested on the same platform from initial engineering through mass production. Read More.

T6391 Display Driver Tester Expands Capabilities with New Per-pin Digitizer and Comparator (LCD HP)

Advantest announced its new LCD HP (high-performance) per-pin digitizer and comparator module. Developed for use with the T6391 display driver test system, the LCD HP module features two key performance improvements. First, it improves measurement precision 5x compared to the previous module, making it ideally suited to accommodate the testing demands of advanced display driver ICs (DDICs) for high-end smartphones and augmented/virtual reality (AR/VR) applications. Second, it can handle high-voltage testing up to ±40V, enabling the module to address the high-reliability testing demands of brand-new automotive DDICs. Read More.

New AI-Powered Software Solution Accelerates Yield Improvement Throughout IC Engineering and Production

Advantest’s new yield-improvement solution leverages artificial intelligence (AI) to expedite identifying the root causes of yield loss and increasing the efficiency of analyzing test results. The innovative and scalable Advantest Cloud Solutions Engineering AI Studio for Yield Improvement (ACS EASY ^TM) can increase the productivity of both device engineering and production operations for a wide range of users, from chip designers to outsourced semiconductor assembly and test (OSAT) companies. Read More.

FEATURED EVENT

Advantest Successfully Showcases its Latest IC Test Solutions at SEMICON Japan 2022

Advantest participated in SEMICON Japan 2022 on December 14-16 at the Tokyo Big Sight in Tokyo, Japan. Advantest’s booth highlighted various new products, including the inteXcell, the E5620 DR-SEM, the XPS128+HV, the LCD HP, and CREA’s power semiconductor test solutions. Read More.

FEATURED STORY

Navigating the Semiconductor Slowdown: Insights on the Industry in 2023

Get the inside scoop on the slowdown in the semiconductor industry and what to expect in 2023 with our distinguished guest, Malcolm Penn, CEO of Future Horizons, and one of the most experienced experts in the semiconductor industry.

In this episode of Advantest Talks Semi, we dive into the forecasted contraction of the semiconductor industry, the impact of Covid-19 and the shift toward electric vehicles. We talk about the forecast for the memory market and the investments being made in the name of national security. Read More.