Press Release

Leading Suppliers of Instruments for IC Test Unveiled Their Plans to Support an Emerging Open Standard in the Automatic Test Equipment (ATE) Business

SANTA CLARA, Calif. -- Seeking some new and potentially large market opportunities, leading suppliers of instruments for IC test unveiled their plans to support an emerging open standard in the automatic test equipment (ATE) business. The instrument makers--GuideTech, Roos Instruments, and Wavecrest--are moving full speed ahead to support and develop third-party modules for the open ATE architecture devised by the Semiconductor Test Consortium Inc. (STC).

Last year, Advantest, Intel, Motorola, Philips, and others raised eyebrows by forming the STC. GuideTech, Racal, Roos Instruments, Wavecrest, and other third-party instrumentation makers also belong to the STC. STC's goal is to devise an "open architecture" in ATE, which would enable the development of lower-cost, "plug-and-play" instruments and modules for IC testers. These modules are integrated into IC testers, enabling chip makers to reduce test costs and cycle times. In June, the STC released its first hardware and software specifications, dubbed the Open Semiconductor Test Architecture or Openstar. The specifications define the backplane and other critical ATE data.

Openstar is far from being an industry standard, however. Advantest Corp. is readying an IC tester based on Openstar, but the Japanese company is the only major ATE vendor in the STC camp. Agilent, Credence, LTX, NPTest, and Teradyne refuse to join STC and are separately pushing their own ATE platforms as open standards. The lack of ATE standards present some major headaches for instrument makers. Today, these vendors must develop different versions of the same product to support a bevy of ATE platforms. "Openstar is a step in the right direction. But an open architecture (in ATE) is not a good solution--until there is only one solution in the market" said Arnon Gat, president and CEO of GuideTech Inc., a Sunnyvale, Calif.-based supplier of timing analyzer instruments for ATE.

GuideTech is reportedly developing a timing analyzer module for the Openstar architecture, based on its Femto family of products, analysts said. The company's Femto family of multi-channel measurement products provide direct timing analysis for ATE.
 

About GuideTech

Founded in 1988,GuideTech is the leader in precision timing instruments. Based on true TIA technology (time interval analyzer), GuideTech provides test solutions from device characterization for jitter and critical timing signals to critical timing test in production. GuideTech Femto family of products enhances the performance of any ATE platform, providing the highest throughput by combining fast measurement rates with multiple measurement channels in parallel. GuideTech has over a thousand timing instruments installed worldwide supporting customers in production. For more information on GuideTech, please visit the company's Website at http://www.guidetech.com, or call Kelly Van Alstine at (408) 733-6555 x240.