semicon test equipment (ate) (3825-te)

overview of semicon test equipment (ate) (3825-te)

— semiconductor ate (automated test equipment ), for testing semiconductor devices, can test a wide range of electronic devices & systems, from simple components (resistors, capacitors, and inductors) to integrated circuits (ics), printed circuit boards (pcbs), and complex, completely assembled electronic systems. ate systems are designed to reduce the amount of test time needed to verify that a particular device works or to quickly find its faults before the part has a chance to be used in a final consumer product. to reduce manufacturing costs & improve yield, semiconductor devices should be tested after being fabricated to prevent defective devices ending up with the consumer. the semiconductor ate architecture consists of master controller (usually a computer) that synchronizes one or more source and capture instruments. historically, custom-designed controllers or relays were used by ate systems. the device under test (dut) is physically connected to the ate by another robotic machine called a handler or prober and through a customized interface test adapter (ita) or fixture that adapts the ate's resources to the dut.

for additional technical information, see: quadrant epp back-end ic testing materials