News - Component Test

Flexible DUT Interface offers increased Parallelism

23 June 2022 – Advantest launched its DUT Scale Duo interface for the V93000 EXA Scale SoC test systems, enabling the industry’s highest level of parallelism for testing advanced semiconductors. With this revolutionary interface, the usable space on DUT boards and probe cards is increased by 50 percent or more while wafer probe and final-test set ups can accommodate component heights that are more than three times taller.

In today’s testing environments, the number of devices that can be tested in parallel is most often limited by the component space on the probe card or DUT board, not by available tester resources. With fast-growing market segments including automotive, mobile and RF devices trending toward higher site counts, the need for more space on DUT boards for IC testing is becoming critical. In addition, leading-edge wafer probers and final-test handlers require more area on printed circuit boards to provide the most cost-efficient solutions, from single wafer touch-down capabilities in wafer probing to massively parallel final testing across 32 sites or more.

Advantest offers the industry’s first DUT interface with the capability to adapt either to the existing standard DUT board or probe card size or to switch to the new, significantly larger size. Using a unique sliding mechanism, users can effortlessly switch back and forth between both formats to adapt to specific application requirements.

Along with the new interface, a new super-stiff extended bridge achieves superior deflection performance in direct-probing set ups. The unit’s universal design gives it the versatility to support a wide range of applications including digital and RF device testing.

With its sophisticated sensing capabilities, the extended bridge delivers the industry’s best planarity and high manufacturing yield, ensuring highly accurate positioning and verification of probe card clamping.

“Our new DUT Scale Duo enables the next stepping in parallelism while embodying Advantest’s continuing emphasis on system compatibility by allowing users to utilize their existing DUT boards and probe cards with a new interface,” said Advantest’s General Manager and EVP, Jürgen Serrer. “In addition to protecting customers’ investments, our approach to delivering the most efficient test solutions also offers flexibility and simplifies fleet management on the test floor.”

The new interface’s performance has been verified by pilot customers before device ramp up for high-volume manufacturing.

DUT Scale Duo is expected to be broadly available by the middle of this year.

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