Electronic Test Equipment News

Every year, the test industry welcomes the announcement of the Best in Test awards honoring the most notable product releases in a variety of categories over the past year. This year's crop includes a number of familiar names, along with others not so familiar. Tektronix, for example, won the oscilloscope category with their new MDO-4000 mixed-domain instruments, and Advantest topped the semiconductor-test category with the T5773 NAND Flash package tester. Perhaps more of a surprise, Test Research won in machine-vision/inspection with their TR7600 SII automated x-ray inspection system, and their TR5001T Tiny ICT won for embedded test. The article includes links to the original announcement and to many of the winners.

Designed for high-tech industrial, laboratory, dynamometer, and engine test cells, Setra's AccuSense™ Model ASM pressure transducer delivers remarkable performance. The ASM offers 0.05% full scale (end-point accuracy), ensuring precise pressure readings throughout the testing process. This exceptional performance is achieved by combining Setra's unique electronic circuitry with integral digital conditioning.

Compact, lightweight, and cost-effective analyzers provide quick and precise signal investigations, on or away from the bench. The 2650A is the lightest, full-featured spectrum analyzer in the 3.3 GHz range. The 2640 RF field strength meter provides reliable measurements over a wide reception range of 100 kHz to 2000 MHz.

Accessory Power Strips simplify power system distribution inside electrical systems sold worldwide. Interpower Accessory Power Strips carry North American and international approvals. Enclosed in 18-gauge steel case; include resettable on/off CBE (Circuit Breaker for Equipment). Interpower carries "universal" jumper cords with a 1-week manufacturing lead time. Order online at www.interpower.com.

The Model 5900 is a high general purpose audio generator. The circuit consists of a low distortion oscillator, a drive amplifier, and a bipolar FET class AB1 power amplifier with an output transformer.

• Output: Isolated output transformer; taps from
0-8 V to 0-260 V
• Input: 115 V or 230 V, 50 Hz, or 60 Hz Learn more.

Semiconductor manufacturers have embraced PCIe standard version 3.0 for testing bare application-specific ICs (ASICs) since its release. This note explores applying the technique to add-in cards (AICs) and motherboards (MBs) that include PCIe slots. It describes RX calibration and testing that determines a receiver's ability to detect even impaired digital signal content, as well as some of the vendor's available tools for the purpose.

In automated test systems with high channel counts, setting up switching to meet your needs for a specific application can prove less than obvious. These new relay cards allow intuitively creating a custom configuration for switching, routing, programming, and maintenance. The accompanying software allows you to assemble your configuration through an easy-to-use graphical interface.

Tools like in-circuit test and manufacturing defects analysis requiring fixtures created specifically for production boards would be impractical (as in exorbitant) for testing prototypes. Bringing prototypes to production often includes modifications that change the board's components and layout. Using conventional instruments would be slow, at best. This nonintrusive software-based embedded technique provides an alternative that can dramatically reduce time-to-production.

Faults like lifted leads can defy in-circuit or functional test because they may make sufficient contact during the test. The success of an inspection technique to identify such faults depends heavily on factors such as the board layout and the inspection system's field of view. An inspection method that is independent of the board layout provides a much better solution. [Access to the originating article may require registration.]

The Cognex In-Sight® 7000 smart camera represents a true revolution in machine vision and features powerful vision tools, faster image capture, the capability to power and control a range of external lighting, and enough input/output capacity for virtually any inspection scenario. Download the brochure to learn more!

While some mechanical flaws are easy to detect, others are not. Issues such as seal deformations, component fatigue, and other complex defects require a specialized level of expertise to identify the problem and determine the cause — a level of expertise offered by Stork mechanical testing services.

Aligning the lithography mask in wafer manufacturing can prove time-consuming and expensive, especially if the alignment system can't handle the throughput necessary to meet your production targets. This system, designed for 2 to 6 in. wafers of high-brightness LEDs, features a microscope-based automatic mask pattern search, robotic positioning, and illumination spectra that can handle a variety of wafer materials at up to 165 6 in. wafers per hour.

The GigE Vision standard provides much faster and more flexible image transfer than did any of its predecessors. It permits both point-to-point and point-to-multipoint data transfer. This piece takes a comprehensive look at the four elements of the standard, examining what they can do, and exploring how you can implement them successfully in your particular application.

Nowhere is battery life more critical than in hybrid and electric vehicles. Yet how do you test to ensure that a battery will last a number of years? Until now, the only reliable tests also lasted years. A new technique shortens test time to a few weeks. Measurements of how efficiently batteries store and deliver an electric charge allow predicting how many times you can recharge them.

Engineers designing and evaluating high-speed interconnect interfaces need accurate bit error-rate test (BERT) capability. These new multichannel modules for the company's signal-quality analyzer BERT system permit synchronizing up to 12 pulse-pattern generators and testing at data-transfer speeds up to 32 Gbps on up to 4 channels. A jitter modulation source allows testing jitter tolerance.

VJ High Energy group provides services and equipment dedicated to radiographic, radioscopic, and digital nondestructive inspection requirements. Our high-energy facility is used extensively for a wide variety of radiation exposure testing requirements.

The NOVA e-Series of surface area analyzers offers a full line of rapid, high throughput B.E.T. surface area and pore size analyzers. Eight fully automatic models meet the needs of any research or quality assurance laboratory. Learn more...

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