Show highlights: Test and inspection products take aim at PCBs

APEX, February 24–26, Anaheim, CA, www.goapex.org.

Asset Intertech (www.asset-intertech.com) introduced the ScanWorks Assistant, Scan Path Discovery, and Multiple Scan Support modules in the latest version of its ScanWorks boundary-scan software....JTAG Technologies (www.jtag.com) announced that its Symphony APT-9000 boundary-scan tool works with Series 9000 flying-probe systems from Takaya (www.texmac.com/takaya.html), whose representatives were also at the show to demonstrate the flying-probe systems.

CheckSum (www.checksum.com) introduced two new in-circuit-test (ICT) systems—the Analyst ems, which costs less than $40,000 for an 800-point system, and the Analyst ils, which adds fully-integrated in-line capability....Seica (www.seica.com) demonstrated its S22 bare-board tester, its S40 Valid for loaded boards, its S40 Pilot flying-probe tester for loaded boards, and its S40 Trekker in-circuit-test system....Digitaltest (www.digitaltest.net) demonstrated the latest additions to its test-system line-up, including the MTS888 ICT platform and the MTS500XL modular flying-probe system. The company also exhibited its new C-Link 2000 software, and it demonstrated a new MTS300 integrated test cell....Teradyne (www.teradyne.com) was on hand to demonstrate its TestStation in-circuit test equipment with low-voltage SafeTest technology.

Viscom's S6055-II automated optical inspection system offers a 0.5-m/s conveyor speed to cut board handling time to less than 4 s.

National Instruments (www.ni.com) demonstrated its first PCI Express test-and-measurement product as well as a new suite of PCI-based I/O modules, new motion controllers for servo systems, and DIAdem 9.0 software....Tecnomatix (www.tecnomatix.com) launched its eM-DFM Expert design-for-manufacture (DFM) software....Data I/O (www.data-io.com) announced a FlashCORE system upgrade that removes barriers to high-density flash device programming as manufacturers increase densities and introduce stacked packages that include RAM, logic, or multiple flash devices in one package, each requiring a programming operation during manufacturing....Electro Scientific Industries (www.esi.com) was on hand to announce that Analog Devices (www.analog.com) has purchased ESI's new Model 2100 thin-film-on-silicon laser-trimming system.

OFC, February 24–27, Los Angeles, CA, www.ofcconference.org.

Agilent Technologies (www.agilent.com/find/jitter) showed the Model 86100C DCA-J, an Infiniium optical oscilloscope designed for jitter measurements at bit rates to 40 Gbps....Continuum Photonics (www.continuumphotonics.com) featured its Directlight IG Series of instrumentation-grade 16-, 32-, 48-, and 64-port optical switches.... The Model 2004 component analyzer from dBm Optics (www.dbmoptics.com) tests optical components such as DWDM multiplexers, amplifiers, and photodiodes for power, wavelength, insertion loss, polarization-dependent loss, and return loss.

Exfo (www.exfo.com) demonstrated several test products including its Universal Optical Test System, a bit-error-rate tester, and the Model 8510 Packet Blazer Gigabit Ethernet module....Luna Technologies (www.lunatechnologies.com) displayed an optical vector analyzer for use during the manufacture of optical components. This tester is a stripped-down version of the company's other tester in that it lacks an optical source.

Picosecond Pulse Labs (www.picosecond.com) manufactures a TDR/TDT pulse generator that engineers use with Agilent and Tektronix optical scopes to measure frequency response, rise times, and other parameters....PXIT (www.pxit.com) entered the digital communication analysis business with the introduction of a 4.25-Gbps PXI module....Synthesys Research (www.synthesysresearch.com) entered the high-speed bit-error-rate testing market with the 7.5-Gbps BERTscope Model 7500A and the 12.5 Gbps BERTscope Model 12500A....Yokogawa (www.ando.com) demonstrated bench instruments such as the AQ2200-600 1-Gbps bit-error-rate tester, the AQ7750 optical sampling oscilloscope, and the AQ6319 optical spectrum analyzer. Portable instruments included an optical time-domain reflectometer, an optical power meter, and a traffic tester.