Test of Time Finalists 2010

-- Test & Measurement World, 12/22/2009 12:00:00 PM

Also, read about the Best in Test finalists for 2010

--89600 Vector Signal Analysis Software, Agilent Technologies
--ATEasy Test Executive and Software Development Environment, Geotest—Marvin Test Systems
--BERTScope Bit-Error-Rate Tester, SyntheSys Research
--J750 Multisite Test System, Teradyne
--Model 4200-SCS Semiconductor Characterization System, Keithley Instruments
--PicoScope 3000 Series Oscilloscopes, Pico Technology
--Tessent LogicBIST Built-In Self-Test Tool, Mentor Graphics

 

89600 Vector Signal Analysis Software
Agilent Technologies
www.agilent.com

Agilent says that its 89600 VSA software plays a key role in the communications and wireless networking revolutions by providing analysis tools for the PHY layer that are crucial to the development of base stations, access points, and mobile units. Since its introduction in 2000, the software has had 29 updates, including support for cdma2000, W-CDMA, WiMAX, and LTE.

According to Agilent, the software is the first PC-based signal-analysis software, the first software to make measurements with more than one signal-analyzer platform, the first to perform wideband vector signal analysis up to 36 MHz, and the first to analyze over 70 signal formats. VSA analyzes signals acquired by signal, spectrum, and logic analyzers and oscilloscopes, and it can measure signals anywhere in the radio block diagram. The software analyzes narrowband AM as easily as ultrawideband multiband-OFDM and also analyzes modulated signals ranging from tens of megahertz to hundreds of terahertz.

 

ATEasy Test Executive and Software Development Environment
Geotest—Marvin Test Systems
www.geotestinc.com

ATEasy offers the capabilities of both a test executive and a test-development toolset within a single, integrated environment that was designed specifically for the development and maintenance of functional test applications. With ATEasy, users can develop test programs that are self-documenting in a format that is similar to a test requirements document for functional test. In addition, ATEasy offers an integrated debug environment, allowing users to easily debug code at the application level or at the test step level.

ATEasy provides a rapid application development environment by employing just in-time compilation methods, and its open architecture supports a broad range of software and hardware tools and standards, including .NET, ActiveX/COM, .DLL, IVI, function panel drivers, and LabView. The product initially ran under Windows 3.0 and currently operates with Vista, XP, Me, and Windows 98. As the product has evolved, compatibility with older versions of ATEasy has been maintained.

 

BERTScope Bit-Error-Rate Tester
SyntheSys Research
www.bertscope.com

By 2004, when SyntheSys Research introduced the BERTScope, the company noted that there were other 12-Gbps BERT (bit-error-rate test) instruments on the market, but they were hard to use and they lacked the ability to give any insight into customer device behavior. The BERTScope was designed to change that.

The BERTScope was a new class of instrument that combined easy pattern generation and error detection with integrated eye analysis correlated to BER performance. It was also the first instrument to have standards-compliant stress generation integrated into it for receiver compliance testing for standards such as PCI Express, 10-Gbit Ethernet, and Serial ATA. While the BERTScope has evolved with award-winning clock recovery, pre-emphasis, and integrated-jitter subcomponent analysis on long patterns, and has also evolved into 17.5-Gbps and 26-Gbps models, the original BERTScope 12500A is still selling today.

 

J750 Multisite Test System
Teradyne
www.teradyne.com

After its introduction in 1998, the J750 achieved rapid acceptance as an economical solution for testing microcontroller, FPGA, and other digital audio and baseband devices, with more than 2900 systems shipments to date, according to Teradyne. The J750 delivered step-function cost-of-test savings through multisite test by introducing site-aware IG-XL software (automating program development for multisite test), a zero-footprint "tester-in-a-test-head" design to minimize tester floor space, and a scaleable architecture offering up to 1024 pins.

When introduced, the J750 addressed the technical requirements for microcontrollers and offered performance headroom to meet technical needs on product roadmaps (increasing embedded memory, scan chains, and digital I/O pin count), while still enabling customers to increase site count easily. The hardware and software architecture of the J750 also enabled derivative product family members to be introduced, and Teradyne says it delivered market-leading cost-of-test economics for the image sensor, LCD driver, and electrical wafer-sort market segments.

 

Model 4200-SCS Semiconductor Characterization System
Keithley Instruments
www.keithley.com

Keithley says the 4200-SCS has grown steadily in popularity since its introduction in 2000 because of the system's point-and-click test environment, onboard computing capability, and low-level (0.1-fA) measurement capability. The first configuration offered the advantage of an all-in-one-box solution for DC measurements of critical device characteristics in a semiconductor lab environment.

Ongoing enhancements have broadened both the standard feature set and configuration options (including C-V and pulse source/measurement hardware). Keithley incorporated these features into the 4200-SCS without forcing customers to discard their existing test hardware and begin again with newer (and costlier) configurations. The company says this commitment to cost-effective upgrades has expanded the 4200-SCS's applications, which now include semiconductor technology development and process integration, incoming inspection, failure analysis, device reliability and lifetime testing, nanotechnology and MEMs research, dielectric characterization, flash memory testing, pulse testing of III-V devices, Hall-effect and van der Pauw testing, device modeling, and solar-cell characterization.

 

PicoScope 3000 Series Oscilloscopes
Pico Technology
www.picotech.com

In 2004, Pico Technology unveiled the PicoScope 3000 Series of high-performance, USB-connected and USB-powered PC oscilloscopes. The pioneering PicoScope 3000 Series allows users to capture information with their PC that in the past was not possible; the series offers sampling rates up to 200 Msamples/s, record lengths up to 1 Msample, and a built-in waveform generator.

The series also features more than 30 automated measurements (including frequency, pulse width, rise time, total harmonic distortion, and signal-to-noise ratio) and five enhanced display modes (including digital color, which is ideal for spotting intermittent glitches in digital signals, and analog intensity, which is useful for displaying video waveforms and analog modulation signals). The supplied PicoScope 6 software package has continuously received new features since 2004, providing the latest functionality to users regardless of when they purchased the product at no additional charge.

 

Tessent LogicBIST Built-In Self-Test Tool
(formerly known as ETLogic and Embedded Logic Test)
Mentor Graphics
www.mentor.com

Tessent LogicBIST, formerly ETLogic, provides a comprehensive automation flow for integrating and verifying a plug-and-play hierarchical test architecture that scales with design size and power requirements. Its patented core-isolation technique uses a combination of existing functional flops and some additional flops to separate the design into independent core components, with minimal area overhead and no impact on performance. An added benefit provided by the embedded nature of Tessent LogicBIST is that the test capabilities integrated into each core are fully reusable throughout a product's life cycle.