Electronic Test Equipment News

This multi-axis modular motion control system was developed for production, test, and inspection equipment involving flat panel displays, semiconductors, electronic assembly, general automation, or medical applications. It handles motion control applications requiring high performance, flexible drive configuration, PLC motion, and logic control. [Access to this article may require a short registration.]

Real-time SPC, complete inspection coverage, and low false failure rates can be achieved with an automated optical inspection system. It provides automated inspection of solder and lead defects, component presence/position, correct part, polarity, and through-hole parts on printed circuit boards. The AOI system also helps increase throughput and quality, and reduces test costs. [Access to this article may require a short registration.]

According to Louis Ungar of Best Test, some say IEEE-1149.1 is still a milestone to be crossed, but most of industry has accepted this 18-year-old standard. The article offers an introduction to several other related standards and a brief discussion on their progress. It covers IJTAG, SJTAG, Design for Test (DFT), and more.

Do you need to adapt to new test requirements without constantly calling for hardware and software upgrades? An integrated wafer level reliability (WLR) test system offers true parallel test capability. It also helps speed lifetime predictions and reduce time-to-market. Flexible sequencing, scalability, and configuration increase useful machine life.

Cameras and vision systems follow the Camera Link Standard, but this expert says industry should focus on a new approach to camera-to-PC connections. To avoid stretching GigE capabilities, he recommends a new serial standard. Next he says you should determine if FireWire might fit your application. Finally, he says that we need smarter cameras.

Testing keeps getting tougher, so why not try a real-time, mixed-signal digital oscilloscope? Increased acquisition memory in newer oscilloscope models can double the real-time sampling rate. In fact, incorporating quad-core CPUs and four-lane PCIe datapaths now pumps speeds nearly 20-fold. Read what speed can do for you.

In developing today's test strategy, you increasingly need to generate small delay-defect patterns and identify previously undetectable defects. As chip power consumption is lowered, thinner power and ground lines and testing can stress the chip causing failure. Adaptive scan minimizes needed memory, and also limits the time spent on each device.

You're assembling a test system and you need to optimize your test throughput. So, have you thought about the six critical parameters that you need to consider when selecting test and measurement equipment? They include: price/performance, resolution and accuracy, measurement speed, switching speed, range, and functionality.

Test systems are only as good as the data collected. As sensor and microprocessor costs drop, you can develop sensor-rich designs. That intelligence can fill the gaps in the ability of current test systems and also yield designs that cost less to produce and operate. For example, contemporary washing machines can use three microcontrollers to manage the system and user interface. A midrange-priced refrigerator may use eight microcontrollers with localized sensors to provide custom and optimal control.

Recent studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison says that girls are just as good at math as boys. What's more, the few women who do enter the engineering field find their choice both interesting and enjoyable. A new campaign called Engineer Your Life, hopes to change the current status of fewer girls than boys choosing engineering as a career. The program is promoted by the National Academy of Engineering and more than a dozen other professional organizations and companies, and highlights the advantages of an engineering career.

What is the Cost of Quality?

With the cost of test continuing to rise, do you collect enterprise quality data? What are your top concerns? If you don't collect and apply enterprise quality data, what is your rationale?