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Test ready to tackle UWB ramp-up
December 28, 2007
How will we test 400 million ultrawideband devices per year? According to In-Stat, the 400 million figure represents how many UWB-enabled devices will ship in 2011. A 3-part T&MW series describes how production-test techniques will evolve as UWB production ramps up over the next three years.
The T&MW series, authored by Adam Smith, a business development engineer at Verigy, describes three phases of this ramp-up, and he describes production test techniques appropriate to each one. Phase 1, he says, is the early market-penetration phase, which he expects to extend through 2008. “In this phase,” he writes, “the crucial factor for the device manufacturer is time to market, even more so than cost. Also, since shipment volume is small, “exotic” test solutions (that is, ones involving complicated test-fixture hardware) are acceptable, since only a very small number of the test solutions needs to be maintained. In this phase, meeting shipment commitments takes a slight priority over cost-optimization.”
Phase 2, he writes, involves growing market acceptance, with UWB device shipments exceeding 1 million units per month. “UWB likely looks to enter this phase in the 2009 timeframe,” he writes, adding, “In this phase, it is still acceptable to maintain the solutions that were created in first phase; however, the device manufacturers are going to start to rely more on the test equipment vendor to provide a more robust test solution, while the cost of the solution is also becoming quite important.”
Phase 3 represents mainstream market acceptance, which he estimates will occur in 2010 or 2011. “In this phase,” he writes, “it is no longer acceptable to have a complicated test solution, as ‘copy-exact’ is now crucial in this high-volume part of the life cycle. Also, cost is now the driving factor for the device manufacturer more than time to market. In this phase…device ASPs will start to decline dramatically. It is extremely crucial to have a robust and cost-effective test solution in place, and the device manufacturer will require the test vendor to provide a turn-key solution for UWB.”
Smith discusses various test techniques—BIST, analog test, “golden device” test, and fixture-based test techniques—and their applicability to the three phases of USB roll-out. Read the details in the series, beginning here.
Posted by Rick Nelson on December 28, 2007 | Comments (0)
