Software’s role in test
Rick Nelson, Editor in Chief -- Test & Measurement World, 2/1/2009 2:00:00 AM
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Software will take on a growing importance as a key differentiator in semiconductor-test solutions. That’s a view I share with Debbora Ahlgren, who last month joined OptimalTest as VP of sales and marketing. Ahlgren said OptimalTest provides this differentiation through its station-controller test-automation, adaptive-test and parts-average-testing, and yield-learning tools.
Ahlgren, who most recently served as VP and chief marketing officer for Verigy, said she became familiar with the relatively young company (founded in 2005) through participation on panels (some of which I moderated) with Dan Glotter, OptimalTest’s CEO and cofounder; through joint projects between Verigy and OptimalTest; and through the pages of Test & Measurement World.
In a phone interview, Ahlgren said that she believes OptimalTest is well positioned to make a contribution to the test industry, despite the current economic turmoil. “I’ve been looking at where the industry is going, and as we emerge from this downturn, things are going to be fairly dramatically different.” The change, she said, will focus on differentiation through software rather than through ongoing efforts to simply commoditize test hardware.
She did note that she believes that “Verigy’s hardware is very nicely differentiated.” She added, though, that test customers in general are looking for a different approach.
Verigy’s acquisition of Inovys was one effort at such an approach, although that approach—which links Inovys software with the Verigy V93000 tester—remains hardware-centric.
Hardware differentiation in the test industry won’t go away, Ahlgren said, noting, “You will have niches of differentiation that are highly hardware-dependent, but the core differentiation will increasingly come, in my opinion, from software implementations.”
As for OptimalTest’s role, she said, “If we look at the IDMs [integrated device manufacturers], they have all implemented one form or another” of the software approach OptimalTest takes in an effort to optimize their return on invested capital. And today, she said, “You’ve got Qualcomm, for example, ranking in the top 10 of the semiconductor industry. So, it’s no longer the case that the fabless guys are the little guys who can be ignored. They’re equally challenged to optimize their operations.” And, she added, “Even the biggest of the IDMs is now going fab-light or is outsourcing, so the notion of home-brew solutions simply fails to work in that environment.”
Software has become increasingly important to test—and to design as well. One of the first firms to recognize that may have been National Instruments, which recognized that software running on low-cost computers could implement flexible “virtual instrument” systems. Software’s importance now extends from design tools from EDA firms through computational lithography and onto production test and test-analysis tools. These tools will become increasingly interrelated. I asked Ahlgren what role OptimalTest can play with regard to the design space. That’s still being worked out, she said, concluding, “The potential for feed-forward and feed-backward and yield learning is definitely there. Those are things that will be enabled on the roadmap over time.”
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