Product category:
ATE Systems
News Release from: Advantest (Europe)
Edited by the Electronicstalk Editorial
Team on 26 July 2002
Semiconductor Test Consortium focuses on
standards
The Semiconductor Test Consortium is the first industry-wide collaboration aimed at finding cost-effective solutions to testing complex logic devices, such as SoCs.
The Semiconductor Test Consortium is the first industry-wide collaboration aimed at finding cost-effective solutions to testing complex logic devices, such as SoCs This nonprofit consortium will support the development of the Semiconductor Test Open Architecture, a new framework created to enable open test solutions that offer true hardware and software interoperability, with unparalleled technical and economic benefits
This article was originally published on Electronicstalk on 11 May 2001 at 8.00am (UK)
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Advantest is currently recruiting participants for the consortium from the ranks of the world's leading IC manufacturers to enable the development of a highly scalable and flexible test platform with a lifetime of more than 10 years.
Advantest currently has active participation from half of the world's top 10 semiconductor companies who are committed to launching the consortium.
These include Intel and National Instruments.
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Open to all companies throughout the semiconductor supply chain with a vested interest in the test sector, the consortium plans to focus on the following goals: driving the direction of the Semiconductor Test Open Architecture; publishing the architecture and providing training programmes and workshops to ensure it is truly open; identifying requirements, developing solutions and defining and managing validation procedures to ensure full vendor interoperability; and engaging in joint marketing and promotion activities to educate the industry about the platform architecture and ensure its successful implementation.
According to Toshio Maruyama, president and COO of Advantest Corp, "The establishment of the Semiconductor Test Consortium comes at a highly opportune time.
As the industry begins to recover from a very rough period, companies are starting to step up the ramp of advanced manufacturing operations - making it imperative to address the process flexibility and cost challenges that chipmakers face in providing highly reliable devices in the most cost- and time-efficient manner.
Advantest believes a fully open test architecture, supported by vendors throughout the industry, is critical to helping IC makers achieve these objectives.
We're proud to be taking a leading role in this effort, and are looking forward to working with the industry's leading device makers and suppliers to establish a truly breakthrough solution".
The current plan is for the founding members to begin reviewing the draft architecture by next month, with the ultimate goal of publishing the architecture and releasing the complete developer's kit - including software, hardware, documentation and training - in the first half of 2003.
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