atg Luther & Maelzer, an Xcerra company, has announced the release and the first installations of the new A7-20 PCB flying-probe test system. Specifically designed for the demands of large format, high-layer-count backplanes, the A7-20 combines the flexibility typical for flying-probe testers with accuracy and speed.
The market segment for the A7-20 are large server and back-panel designs for the telecommunication industry. These kinds of designs have up to 72 layers with a product weight of up to 30 kg. 100,000 test points are common on formats of up to 1.25 m. In combination with higher density, electrical test becomes challenging. Traditional test solutions such as four-head probe systems or multiple oversized test fixtures for grid systems cannot fully meet the requirements in terms of speed and cost.
The new A7-20 flying-probe system is equipped with 20 test heads, 10 cameras for optical alignment, and the latest motion system design with direct linear drive technology for high accuracy and test speed.
The A7-20 is designed to fully support ease-of-operation and best operator/machine ratio. The horizontal test position provides the advantage that one operator is able to load and unload these heavy printed circuit boards. A moveable support table, which can be attached to the front of the test system, is available for loading and unloading.
The most comprehensive configuration of the A7 oversized system product line is an A7-24 with 24 test heads and 12 cameras for the optical alignment. A maximum board size up to 1.50 m can be tested at volume production conditions.
Jochen Kleinertz, VP of the PCB test group at Xcerra, commented, “We recently delivered and commissioned the first two systems in two large-format PCB fabricators in China. With these new flying probe systems, we enable our customers to efficiently meet the increasing demand for high test coverage and 4-wire testing (Kelvin test) also for large PCBs. The unique and industry leading architecture of the atg Luther & Maelzer flying probe product line makes it possible to use a higher number of flying probes per test area and by this to bring down time and cost of test.”
