Automatic test equipment

Automatic test equipment or automatic test equipment (ATE) is any device that performs tests on equipment, known as a device under test (DUT), equipment under test (EUT), or unit under test (UUT), using automation to quickly perform measurements and test The results are evaluated. ATE can be a simple computer-controlled digital multimeter or a complex system containing dozens of complex test instruments (real or simulated electronic test equipment) capable of automatically testing and diagnosing complex electronic package components or wafer testing. failure, including system-on-chip and integrated circuits.

Where it is used

ATE is widely used in the electronics manufacturing industry to test electronic components and systems after manufacture.ATE is also used to test electronic modules in avionics and automobiles.It is used in military applications such as radar and wireless communications.

In the semiconductor industry 

Semiconductor ATE,named for testing semiconductor devices, can test a wide range of electronic devices and systems, from simple components (resistors, capacitors and inductors) to integrated circuits (ICs), printed circuit boards (PCBs) and complex , fully assembled electronic system.For this, probe cards are used.ATE systems are designed to reduce the testing time needed to verify that a particular piece of equipment is working properly or to quickly find faults in a part before it has a chance to be used in a final consumer product.To reduce manufacturing costs and increase yields, semiconductor devices should be tested after manufacture to prevent defective devices from falling into the hands of consumers.

Components

A semiconductor ATE architecture consists of a master controller (usually a computer) that synchronizes one or more source and capture instruments (listed below). Historically, ATE systems have used custom designed controllers or relays.The device under test (DUT) is physically connected to the ATE through another robot called a processor or probe, and a custom interface test adapter (ITA) or "fixture" is used to adapt the resources of the ATE to the DUT.

Industrial PC

Industrial PCs are regular desktop computers in a 19-inch rack-standard package with enough PCI/PCIe slots to accommodate signal stimulator/sensing cards.This acts as a controller in ATE.The development of the test application and the storage of the results are managed in this PC.Most modern semiconductor ATEs include multiple computer-controlled instruments to acquire or measure various parameters.These instruments may include device power supplies (DPS),parametric measurement units (PMUs), arbitrary waveform generators (AWGs), digitizers, digital IO, and utility power supplies.These instruments perform different measurements on the DUT, and the instruments are synchronized so that they generate and measure waveforms at the appropriate times.Real-time systems are also considered for stimulation and signal capture based on response time requirements.

Mass interconnect

A mass interconnect is a connector interface between test instruments (PXI, VXI, LXI, GPIB, SCXI, and PCI) and a device/unit under test (D/UUT).This section acts as a node where signals enter and exit between the ATE and the D/UUT.

For example, to measure the voltage of a specific semiconductor device, a digital signal processing (DSP) instrument in the ATE directly measures the voltage and sends the result to a computer for signal processing to calculate the desired value.This example shows that many ATEs may not use traditional instruments such as ammeters due to the limited number of measurements the instruments can make, and the time required to make measurements with these instruments.A key advantage of using DSP to measure parameters is time.If we have to calculate the peak voltage of the electrical signal and other parameters of the signal, then we have to use a peak detector along with other instruments to test the other parameters.However, with a DSP-based instrument, the signal is sampled and other parameters can be calculated from a single measurement.

Test parameter requirements vs test time

Not all devices are tested equally. Testing adds costs, so low-cost components are rarely tested completely, whereas medical or high costs components (where reliability is important) are frequently tested.But testing the device for all parameters may or may not be required depending on the device functionality and end user.For example, if the device finds application in medical or life-saving products then many of its parameters must be tested, and some of the parameters must be guaranteed.But deciding on the parameters to be tested is a complex decision based on cost vs yield.If the device is a complex digital device, with thousands of gates, then test fault coverage has to be calculated.Here again, the decision is complex based on test economics, based on frequency, number and type of I/Os in the device and the end-use application...