Advantest adds T2000, V93000 modules

San Francisco, CA. Advantest at SEMICON West demonstrated that it is supporting both its T2000 and V93000 test platforms. For the latter, the company introduced the PVI8 floating power source, and for the T2000, it introduced a 1.6-Gb/s digital module and an enhanced device power supply.

Anthony Lum, business development manager, said the new PVI8 instrument will expand the V93000's ability to meet the test challenges of SoCs that integrate high-speed digital, analog, and power functionality in automotive and industrial, DTV, and consumer mobile applications. The V93000, he said, can now test embedded power devices within a single platform.

Designed with eight floating channels and four-quadrant operation, the system can be used to provide up to 80 V and up to 10 A per channel. The eight-channel PVI8 can be ganged up to ±80 amps for high-power stress testing of DUTs at their maximum ratings. For testing high-voltage supplies, the PVI8 can be stacked up to ±160 volts due to its floating design.

The unit’s measurement ranges are independent of the force ranges so operators may switch between ranges without subjecting DUTs to voltage or current spikes, powering down, latch up or device damage.

Neils Poulsen, director business development for SoC test solutions, described the new T2000 additions. The 1.6GDM 256-channel digital module increases the digital vector rate to 1.68 Gb/s and enables complex protocol aware test. The DPS150AE 16-channel high current power supply module supports high-throughput multi-site test.

The 1.6GDM digital module incorporates a new feature called Functional Test Abstraction Plus (FTA+) to achieve protocol-aware testing, in which the tester communicates directly with the DUTs in each IC’s protocol language. An EDA link called FTA-Elink connects the design simulator to the T2000 test platform directly. In addition, Verilog code can run on the T2000 EPP (Enhanced Performance Package) system with the 1.6GDM module. By equipping the tester’s pattern generator with protocol-aware engines capable of independent timing and memory functions, protocol-based I/O can be natively measured, enabling efficient multisite and concurrent testing.

The new module has a vector mode that makes it fully compatible with Advantest’s existing 1GDM digital module while offering improved throughput and reliability.

The DPS150AE module enables its T2000 test platform to handle the load requirements for testing of both high-current and low-voltage semiconductors, including MPUs, ASICs, and FPGAs.

Available as a field upgrade or as a factory-installed option on the T2000 EPP (Enhanced Performance Package) system, the DPS150AE module increases testing versatility. With the module’s high-speed bus capability and Advantest’s Smart Test Condition Memory (TCM), the T2000 EPP system enables module splitting, in which one module can test multiple devices concurrently. Each device under test (DUT) can be monitored and assessed independently.

The new module also allows test conditions to be set and, if necessary, adjusted much more quickly with TCM. This function pre-loads all of a test program’s parameters and includes an editing function so that test engineers can graphically modify any of the settings on the fly.

The DPS150AE has eight channels of high-current (HC) functions that support a large current output as high as 16 A and eight channels of low-current (LC) functions that support a current output of up to 2.66 A. It also has a function that operates multiple channels connected in parallel beyond the module, allowing the module to accommodate up to 80 channels of HC functions, each providing 16 A, to generate up to 1,280 A for high-current devices.