Teradyne Introduces High Density LCD Driver Test System

North Reading, MA - Teradyne, Inc. recently announced its new D750Ex LCD Driver Test System. The D750Ex is designed for testing high-definition LCD driver devices. Himax Technologies Limited, a fabless IC driver design company located in Taiwan, has selected the platform for testing their next generation column and mobile driver devices. Himax is currently running production capacity on the D750Ex. The D750Ex is based on the very successful J750 platform, which has more than 2,600 systems installed worldwide.

Himax designs, develops and markets semiconductors that are critical components of flat panel displays. "Our selection of the D750Ex was based on the system's high throughput performance and small footprint design, which is key in meeting our production, time to market and cost-of-test demands. The D750Ex swing system capability allows us to test not only LCD driver devices but logic devices on the same platform," said CC Tsai, chief technology officer, Himax Technologies Limited.

"We expect the market for semiconductors used in TFT-LCDs driven by consumer demand for high definition TV sets, computer monitors and handsets to grow rapidly over the next few years," said Paul Semenza, vice president for displays, iSuppli Corp. "iSuppli forecasts a 15.1 % growth in the unit volume of LCD drivers in 2008. We also estimate that the total number of driver devices will grow to 9.9 billion by 2010, from about 6.9 billion last year, as worldwide demand increases."

The D750Ex system provides a true high density resource per pin architecture that supports over 97 percent parallel test efficiency of the overall program. The D750Ex also features both an embedded DSP and central DSP architecture to improve processing throughput. Its zero footprint design takes up 50-85 percent less floor space than competitive systems that use both large mainframe cabinets and a test head.

The D750Ex has a Universal Slot architecture, which enables multiple instrument types to be placed in a system depending on the device test needs. A Memory Test Option (MTO) is also available with the D750Ex, requiring no additional slots and can be leveraged to test mobile driver devices in a single pass. On competitive systems, mobile devices must be tested on two platforms, one for LCD and the other for memory. The D750Ex ‘any pin' architecture for all channels, dramatically simplifies probe card design and allows for a more flexible multi-site test development environment.

"The LCD driver market is being driven primarily by consumer goods, from large panel TVs and computer monitors to mobile phones. The ever increasing need for a better quality and complexity of these products requires a higher quality of test for the devices that drive them. With this in mind, we partnered with Himax, a leader in LCD driver technology, to help us develop the D750Ex high density architecture and identify the key tests for this marketplace," said George Rose, general manager for Teradyne's LCD Driver Business Unit.

"The LCD driver ATE market is extremely cost sensitive. We've built the D750Ex to incorporate all the economical advantages and distinct characteristics of the J750, including small footprint, high throughput and low cost of ownership. We've expanded the pin density and configuration flexibility with the D750Ex, so we can offer LCD driver IC manufacturers a more cost-effective solution to help enhance their success," added Rose.

SOURCE: Teradyne, Inc.