Open-standard systems enhance ATE

David Oka of Test Evolution discusses the value of automated-test systems based on AXIe and PXI technologies.

Larry Maloney, Contributing Editor -- Test & Measurement World, 10/1/2011 12:00:00 AM

David Oka VP, Engineering Test Evolution Hopkinton, MA David Oka has spent 30 years in the ATE (automated test equipment) field, working on high-speed digital instruments and low-cost mixed-signal test systems. He has co-founded two companies, LOA Technology in 2003 and Test Evolution in 2007. At Test Evolution, he serves as VP of engineering and is responsible for developing test equipment based on open standards. Previously, at LOA, Oka led development of advanced-timing-formatter ASICs for ATE. Prior to LOA, he worked at StepTech, developing OEM instrumentation for major semiconductor ATE companies. Oka holds BSEE and MSEE degrees from MIT. Contributing editor Larry Maloney interviewed David Oka at the Test Evolution office on trends in ATE technology and about the emerging AXIe modular instrumentation standard. This version of the article includes questions and answers that did not appear in the print version. To read past “Viewpoint” columns, go to www.tmworld.com/viewpoint

Q: What is Test Evolution’s niche in the ATE field?
A: “Big-iron” semiconductor ATE companies traditionally have focused on large global semiconductor manufacturers. Test Evolution targets a much broader audience. Our focus and core competency is standards-based test instrumentation, subsystems, and systems, often partnering with firms like Aeroflex, Agilent Technologies, National Instruments, and ADLink Technology.

We believe that the PXI and AXIe standards offer the infrastructure to support the kind of test functionality and performance that traditionally were available only from big-iron ATE. Test Evolution can design a whole variety of cards for ATE—RF, power supply, digital—and integrate them into a system calibrated by high-level software. For example, if you need a four-port RF subsystem for characterization on the bench, we can provide the building blocks. Or we can enhance your existing systems or transition a characterization system into a production ATE system.

Q: What are the primary advantages of open test systems?
A: From the customer’s perspective, you’ve got a much broader ecosystem of suppliers for PXI and AXIe equipment, rather than being limited to a few vendors with proprietary systems. And because of this more-competitive landscape, you have a better chance of meeting your price-for-performance targets.

Ultimately, this adds up to lower initial capital costs, because these standards-based instruments with their simple form factors are inherently inexpensive. Moreover, their modularity allows you to modify and optimize configurations as your market needs change, and that is important in fickle markets like consumer electronics. So, compared to proprietary ATE systems, you get longer-term protection for your investment by going with systems based on PXI and AXIe standards. Just like the old VXI standard, which customers are still using, PXI and AXIe could have 30- to 50-year life spans.

Q: Which customer sectors account for the bulk of your business?
A: The biggest segment is system integrators, including independent integrators as well as those who do integration internally for semiconductor integrated-device manufacturers and test houses. We also do custom work for some semiconductor test companies. In working with systems integrators, which many manufacturers rely on to design ATE systems, we can provide individual components or, say, an entire RF subsystem, with signal generators, digitizers, splitters, power supplies, and port modules. And there are instances where we serve as the integrator and combine PXI and AXIe test chassis for customers.

Q: What are AXIe’s major technical improvements over PXI?
A: The primary advantages are increased power-supply capacity, better cooling, larger real estate, and enhanced star triggering. For example, AXIe offers 200 W per slot, versus only 30 W per slot for PXI, and 900 cm2 of board space per slot compared to 160 cm2 for PXI.

Q: What are AXIe’s growth prospects?
A: The standard was introduced at the end of 2009, so it is only two years old. Yet the growth prospects look very promising. Agilent has announced several instruments in this form factor, such as waveform generators and logic analyzers, and has an ambitious roadmap for this technology. Test Evolution has already released three AXIe cards, with more in the pipeline. Participation in the standards group is strong, and we expect it to grow as the market embraces the initial products. We don’t see any major obstacles.

The following questions and answers did not appear in the October 2011 issue:

Q: How did Test Evolution get started?
A: TEV was started in 2007 by the founders of StepTech, a company that provided OEM instruments and design services to major semiconductor ATE providers, such as Credence, Teradyne, and LTX. The StepTech founders, who sold the company to LTX in 2003, are former design engineers from Boston-area ATE companies and were able to leverage their experiences to develop cost-effective instruments across multiple ATE platforms. For example, Test Evolution CEO Lev Alperovich, a founder of StepTech, served as a design engineer at LTX in the early ’80s.

In many ways, Test Evolution represents the next generation of technology from StepTech. But rather than focus on proprietary ATE systems, as StepTech did, TEV bases its technology on standards- based instrumentation. Our company is aided in its distribution by its close partnership with Aeroflex, a dominant company in RF test.

Q: What are your prime markets?
A: As already noted, semiconductor test, both for characterization and production, is very important. But we also get involved in end-unit test, such as testing a Bluetooth board that goes into a cellphone. The military and medical markets, which have used VXI for a long time, are beginning to migrate to PXI. Aeroflex is very much tuned into these markets, which is helping us move into those applications as well.

But semiconductors and consumer electronics remain our biggest markets, with a major focus on PXI-based RF and mixed-signal test. Traditionally, such applications have called for a signal generator and a digitizer. But if you need eight or 16 ports to your unit under test, we have PXI instruments that can provide that solution. And in the AXIe space, we can provide 400-Mbps digital performance, with 48 channels on one card. That goes far beyond the performance of a PXI card.

Q: What are Test Evolution’s flagship test systems?
A: For AXIe, the flagship is the AX500 subsystem, and for PXI, it’s our WRX RF subsystem. These are the fundamental building blocks for both our OEM business and our direct business. They provide the ability to leverage the ecosystem of AXIe and PXI instruments into integrated subsystems with high-level software and calibration. The configurations can be tuned to specific customer needs, and the selection of cards can be a mix of Aeroflex, Test Evolution, and third-party cards.

Q: Can you briefly describe your most significant product introductions of the past year?
A: Our company is only four years old, so we really are introducing our entire line to customers. But in the past year, there have been some very significant introductions. There’s the DD48, an AXIe digital board that delivers 48 channels of ATE performance at 400 Mbps in a single slot. Up to 60 of these DD48 boards can be synchronized together, or subsets can be synchronized for multisite testing.

Another key product introduction was the DPS12 digital-power-supply module, which brings 12 channels of 20-V, 1.2-A power to AXIe applications. The DPS12 supports all the functionality of AXIe version 3.1, including pattern-based triggering for inter-instrument control.

These new instruments give customers the performance needed to test digital and mixed-signal devices in an open platform, both in characterization and production, and will improve productivity, time to market, and profitability.

Q: How does your AXIe development kit aid test engineers?
A: This is the industry’s first development kit for AXIe. It consists of an AXIe 3.1-compliant 14-slot cage, open on four sides for debugging. It also includes an AXIe 3.1 system module and a starter board with mezzanine connectors for user-specific instrumentation. The starter kit is aimed at two types of users. For AXIe instrument developers, it provides a good framework of AXIe instrument infrastructure to minimize the time and risks associated with developing a new instrument. For AXIe end-system users, it provides a rapid prototyping and development foundation for application-specific boards.

Q: How does a small company like Test Evolution compete against such semiconductor ATE giants as Advantest and Teradyne?
A: We actually don’t compete directly with the tier-one ATE suppliers. Our business model is to provide instruments, subsystems, and engineering services to them. We also enable their customers to augment their installed base of tier-one systems with new functionality that extends its useful life. And, as noted earlier, we aren’t focused on semiconductor ATE only. It can be cellphone test, wireless-module test, IC characterization, and many other applications.

Q: How concerned are you about the increasing consolidation within the semiconductor industry, such as this year’s acquisition of Verigy by Advantest?
A: We’re not concerned at all. Similar events took place among manufacturers involved in semiconductor front-end processing. It is a sign of the times when the market can no longer support multiple proprietary architectures.

Q: Moving forward, do you see applications developing for Test Evolution beyond the semiconductor test field?
A: Working with our distribution partner, Aeroflex, we see vast opportunities beyond semiconductor test. PXI is already well established in a broad range of industries and markets. Test Evolution’s role is to help augment the capabilities of PXI through the development of additional instruments. We want to be a leader in developing AXIe, which delivers increased density and performance for standards-based solutions. T&MW