News briefs

Cascade Microtech has announced its new Tesla characterization system, which performs on-wafer probing of power semiconductors at levels to 60 A or 3000 V. Cali Sartor, senior product manager at Cascade, said the new system takes aim at a worldwide power semiconductor market that’s projected to grow from $25.8 billion in 2007 to $34.2 billion in 2009, according to Yole Développement (www.yole.fr). Burgeoning demand for power devices, Sartor said, puts time pressure on power-semiconductor engineers and test technicians who can no longer afford the time and expense of packaging their devices to perform characterization and model extraction.

Tesla features two new wafer probes, including a high-current probe that can support 10 A in continuous mode and up to 60 A in pulsed mode. To reduce device heating, the probe tip minimizes contact resistance at the wafer-to-probe interface. The Tesla system also features a high-voltage probe that can make coaxial measurements up to 3000 V and triaxial measurements up to 1100 V. Both the high-current and the high-voltage probes feature a replaceable tip. The Tesla system’s wafer chuck employs a chuck-top technology that optimizes vacuum levels to protect against wafer breakage and probe damage while ensuring minimal contact resistance. Base price: $200,000. www.cascademicrotech.com.

At the SEMI Test Summit & Reception at Semicon West in San Francisco, executives from five semiconductor ATE companies will join moderator Rick Nelson, chief editor of Test and Measurement World, and host Ashoke Seth, test operations director at Intel, in a discussion focused on meeting the design, test, and yield requirements for advanced semiconductor manufacturing. Panelists will include R. Keith Lee, president and CEO, Advantest America; Lavi Lev, CEO and president, Credence Systems; Tim Moriarty, president, Nextest Systems; Mark Jagiela, president, Teradyne Semiconductor Test Division; and Keith L. Barnes, president and CEO, Verigy.

The summit will take place Wednesday, July 18, from 5:30 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. at the Moscone Center, West Hall, Level 2. A reception will follow the panel discussion. semiconwest.semi.org.

Synopsys has announced that Open-Silicon has adopted Synopsys’ DFT MAX scan-compression technology to reduce the cost of testing its 130-, 90- and 65-nm ASIC designs while having minimal impact on Open-Silicon’s established design flows. Using DFT MAX within its existing Synopsys Galaxy Design Platform flows, Open-Silicon’s design team achieved a 90% test-application-time reduction for scan testing.

Working within the Galaxy platform, DFT MAX avoids the need for fragmented, bolt-on flows requiring separate design-synthesis and test-compression insertion steps that can break critical timing, add routing congestion, and necessitate subsequent re-optimization.

“Optimizing costs is a key element to the success of our OpenMODEL services,” said Dr. Satya Gupta, VP of engineering at Open-Silicon. “We carefully evaluated many different aspects of the Synopsys DFT MAX scan compression solution, from the way it performed with different compression parameters to its effect on downstream flows and fault coverage. In all aspects, DFT MAX produced results to our satisfaction: the tool substantially reduced test time and test data volume with very low gate/routing area and timing impact.” www.open-silicon.com; www.synopsys.com.

Suss MicroTec has opened a facility in Singapore that will provide application support for customers in the Asia-Pacific region. The facility combines the various technologies needed for the accurate characterization and modeling of MOSFET, CMOS, RFIC, MEMS, and optosemiconductor devices, including high-brightness LEDs and imaging sensors. The facility can perform I–V, C–V, noise, S-parameter, and other semiconductor parametric measurements. www.suss.com.

Arendar 2007 from VI Technology pulls together test data from automated test systems across a network. Arendar is enterprise software that helps users “investigate” data through math operations and then format the data into publishable reports.

Arendar works through a Web browser. As an investigative tool, Arendar lets you look at data across multiple parts and across multiple test conditions. You can use “and” and “or” operations to uncover trends or anomalies in test data, then use charts such as histograms and Pareto charts to plot results.

As a reporting tool, Arendar 2007 pulls data from a database using report templates that include text, data, and graphics. Templates let you develop custom reports for individual devices or generate reports for a set of devices. An export function lets you publish reports in HTML or PDF formats. You can schedule reports through a scheduling wizard and receive reports at specified time intervals. You can also create your own applications, because Arendar’s programming interface is accessible from any .NET language.

Prices: processor-model—$38,995 per processor with no user licenses needed; client-server—$15,000 per server and $1000 per client. VI Technology, www.vi-tech.com.

Sony Electronics has unveiled its first 5-Mpixel digital machine-vision camera—the XCL-5000 addition to Sony’s Camera Link series. The company reports that the camera can help manufacturers and integrators improve their system design capabilities by using one higher-resolution camera instead of multiple lower-resolution cameras for large part inspection applications, including printed-circuit-board and display inspection. Reducing the number of cameras simplifies designs and lowers costs, while providing streamlined image processing and higher throughput.

The black-and-white XCL-5000 incorporates a new 2/3-in. progressive-scan CCD sensor with square pixels. It can capture high-resolution video at 15 fps, and it supports up to 12-bit processing with a C-mount lens. Connectivity takes place through a standard Camera Link MDR 26-pin connector. Integrated digital-signal-processing capabilities give users options for tailoring systems for optimized performance in customized applications.

Integrated DSP capabilities address gamma correction and support lookup tables. The unit measures 44x44x57.5 mm.

Base price: $4377. Sony, www.sony.com/videocameras.

EMC Symposium, July 8–13, Honolulu, HI. Sponsored by IEEE, EMC Society. www.emc2007.org.

Semicon West, July 16–20, San Francisco, CA. Sponsored by SEMI. www.semi.org.

NCSL International Workshop & Symposium, July 29–August 2, St. Paul, MN. Sponsored by NCSL International. www.ncsli.org.

To learn about other conferences, courses, and calls for papers, visit www.tmworld.com/events.