Show Highlights
Staff -- Test & Measurement World, 6/1/2005 2:00:00 AM
A sampler of test products and techniques
Wescon D2M, April 12–14, Santa Clara, CA, www.wescon.com.
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| This center-probe RF test socket was designed specifically for use with Delta handlers; it incorporates built-in replaceable aligning features to accommodate the handlers. Courtesy of Aries Electronics. |
Exhibits and presentations at Wescon D2M (Design to Manufacture) touched on the gamut of test issues, ranging from semiconductor design for test and design for manufacture to benchtop instruments for PCB development and test. David Ambercrombie, DFM project manager at Mentor Graphics (www.mentor.com), presented information on how to use semiconductor production-test data to help implement effective DFM strategies, increasing defect coverage and yields while lowering costs.
Representatives of two digital oscilloscope manufacturers described factors to consider when employing the instruments for serial data-bus analysis. In a session introduced by T&MW chief editor Rick Nelson, Michael Lauterbach, director of product management at LeCroy (www.lecroy.com), addressed PCI Express-class buses operating at multi-gigabit-per-second rates. He presented general rules of thumb—for instance, that a scope's bandwidth should be 1.8 times the maximum data rate of interest. But he warned that users should consider a scope's "goodness of bandwidth," or flatness, as well as a single value.
In a separate session, Boyd Shaw, product manager for Yokogawa's (www.yokogawa.com) digital oscilloscopes, described techniques for using a general-purpose digital scope to troubleshoot buses such as the CAN bus, the I2C bus, and the SPI bus. Employing such buses, he said, saves development time and PCB space. He added that some digital scopes can measure serial data signal integrity and help isolate problems.
Beyond oscilloscopes
But instruments other than oscilloscopes were also on the docket. In another bench-level instrument presentation, Quentin Thomas, a training manager at Tektronix (www. tektronix.com), described the application of logic analyzers to the debug of high-speed digital systems—a step that can help shorten a design schedule.
On the exhibit floor, Aries Electronics (www.arieselec.com) exhibited its line of test and burn-in sockets, including one socket designed to accommodate device packages ranging from 41 to 55 mm2 at frequencies to 1 GHz. Another of the company's RF sockets is designed for use with Delta handlers. In addition, Tidal Engineering (www.tidaleng.com) described its line of temperature/humidity controllers for environmental-test applications. VI Technology (www.vi-tech.com) highlighted its Arendar test-data-management software. And SyntheSys Research (www.bertscope.com) displayed its BERTScope instruments, which combine sampling-oscilloscope capabilities with bit-error-rate analysis.
Panelists discuss where to build
NEPCON East/Assembly East, May 3–5, Boston, MA, www.nepconeast.com.
On Wednesday, May 4, the American Society of Test Engineers (www.astetest.org) sponsored a panel discussion entitled, "What Should You Build? What Should You Outsource?" during NEPCON East. The panel consisted of Bob Stasonis, sales and marketing manager for Pickering Interfaces (www.pickeringinterfaces.com); Fred Molinari, president of Data Translation (www.datatranslation.com); Ray Boissoneau, president of Electropac (www.electropac.com), a manufacturer of printed-circuit boards; and Test & Measurement World senior technical editor Martin Rowe.
Each panelist gave a two-minute introduction, followed by questions from the audience. During the introductions, the panelists noted that outsourcing is nothing new to New England. It started when textile manufacturing moved south and then offshore. Many other products once manufactured here are now manufactured in China or Mexico.
When asked if their companies manufacture in China, both Boissoneau and Molinari said that they keep manufacturing close to home because doing so gives them greater control over the process. "We build about 20,000 boards a year at our Marlboro, MA, facility," noted Molinari. Boissoneau added, "We're one of the few companies still making all of our printed-circuit boards in North America"
The panelists noted that as manufacturing has moved into China, other countries have lost manufacturing jobs, too. When manufacturing moved to Japan, Singapore, and Taiwan, it raised the standard of living in those countries. Now, those countries have lost some manufacturing to mainland China. The same increase in the standard of living will happen in China, and manufacturers will look elsewhere for lower labor costs. Countries with stable governments will be the first to benefit.
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