News Briefs

Agilent Technologies' semiconductor test division is gaining market share and showing profitability, according to Tom Newsom, VP and general manager of the company's SOC business unit. He reports taking a 24% share of a $2.8 billion market in 2003, vs. 20% of a $2.5 billion market in 2001. Further, he reports a $17 million operating profit for the first quarter of the company's fiscal year 2004, with orders for the quarter up 74% over last year's corresponding quarter. (The company's results for the second quarter, ended April 30, will be available May 17.)

To keep the momentum going, Newsom is targeting the 93000 ATE system at the digital home, which he says represents the next frontier for the semiconductor industry. To help test the ICs that will populate digital home products, Agilent on April 19 introduced its BIST Assist 6.4, which enables signal-integrity testing of high-speed serial links at rates to 6.4 Gbps. BIST Assist 6.4, a 93000 pin card plus software, combines loopback testing with the ability to modify the data fed back, by injecting jitter, for example. Newsom estimates that BIST Assist offers 50% savings over conventional at-speed production-test approaches. A fully configured 93000 with BIST Assist costs $995,000. www.agilent.com.

(For more on the testing of high-speed serial I/O devices, see p. 35.)

Nextest Systems (San Jose, CA) has filed a registration statement with the US Securities and Exchange Commission relating to a proposed initial public offering of shares of its common stock. Nextest and certain stockholders are offering the shares. Nextest designs and manufactures ATE for nonvolatile memory, microcontrollers, ASICs, and system-on-chip (SOC) semiconductors.

Merrill Lynch & Co. will serve as sole book-running manager for the offering, with SG Cowen Securities Corp. and Needham & Co. acting as co-managers. A preliminary prospectus for the offering, when available, may be obtained from the offices of Merrill Lynch & Co (New York, NY). www.nextest.com.

Several prominent device makers have joined the Semiconductor Test Consortium (STC), which is leading the effort to develop the OpenStar (Open Semiconductor Test Architecture) test platform. Analog Devices, Fujitsu, Philips Semiconductor, Renesas, and Toshiba have joined founding members Intel and Motorola in working to develop an open test system that makes use of true hardware and software interoperability.

Commenting on the new members, Fred Bode, secretary and administrator of the STC, said in a prepared statement, "These companies recognize the critical role of the STC in developing and providing chipmakers with a cost-effective, flexible, and modular test solution to address the challenges of testing today's most advanced, complex devices."

The STC claims the OpenStar platform is now supported by more than 25 semiconductor, equipment, and instrument companies. Among this group are several test companies, including Advantest, which has been the most prominent member of the group, as well as Acqiris, Aeroflex, Guide Technology, Inovys, Racal Instruments, Roos Instruments, and Wavecrest. www.semitest.org.

Switzerland-based Comet, a manufacturer of conventional x-ray tubes used in nondestructive testing applications, has acquired FeinFocus (Garbsen, Germany, and Stamford, CT). FeinFocus is a supplier of x-ray inspection systems for electronics-assembly, semiconductor, MEMS, and medical-device industries. The company's WBI-FOX x-ray system (pictured) was named a 2004 Best in Test award winner by the editors of Test & Measurement World.

The combined companies will seek to capitalize on opportunities from trends toward smaller feature sizes and the increased use of 3-D computed tomography (CT). FeinFocus will expand its presence in Asia through Comet's Shanghai office, and Comet will take advantage of FeinFocus's offices in Connecticut and California.

FeinFocus CEO Lance A. Scott said, "With well over 50 years' experience in high voltage/high vacuum x-ray tube manufacturing, Comet's proprietary know-how will accelerate FeinFocus's development of next-generation microfocus and nanofocus x-ray technology." www.comet.ch.

Under an agreement reached with Elgar Electronics (San Diego, CA), Keithley Instruments (Cleveland, OH) will distribute Elgar's programmable AC and DC power supplies through its sales offices in China, Taiwan, and Japan. Elgar instruments include those that carry the Elgar, Sorensen, and Power Ten brand names. www.keithley.com.

ATE. Teradyne (Boston, MA) has reported sales of $430.6 million for the Q1 2004 and net income of $40.2 million. Net orders for the quarter increased 13% from the previous quarter, to $551.2 million. www.teradyne.com.

Communications. In-Stat/MDR (Scottsdale, AZ), a high-tech research firm, reports that deployments of 3G services have finally begun to take off. After single-digit deployments in most quarters of 2001 and 2002, nearly 30 3G services were deployed worldwide in Q4 2003. www.instat.com

Semiconductors. Texas Instruments has announced that its Q1 2004 revenue increased 6% over Q4 2003 and 34% over Q1 2003. The company credited the increase to the strength of its semiconductor business where there is an increased demand for products such as digital signal processors and analog used in wireless applications. www.ti.com.