Verigy Introduces RF Test Solution For Emerging High-Integration Devices

Cupertino, CA -- Verigy, a semiconductor test company, introduced the Port Scale RF solution for the V93000 SoC Test Platform. This new solution provides the RF measurement capability required to test emerging high-integration devices containing integrated RF, mixed signal, digital, power management and embedded or stacked memory, as well as low-integration RF transceivers. Verigy developed the Port Scale RF solution for the V93000 SoC test system to meet the current and future requirements of semiconductor fabless design companies, integrated device manufacturers, and outsourced semiconductor assembly and test companies.

"The emerging high-integration devices being manufactured today to power the next generation of mobile consumer electronics devices are posing significant challenges to our customers," said Pascal Ronde, vice president of sales, service and support, Verigy. "The architecture of the V93000 platform allows us to add this RF capability while achieving remarkable throughput, and still maintaining the lowest cost-of-test."

Verigy developed the Port Scale RF in anticipation of its customers' emerging requirements for maintaining lowest possible cost-of-test (COT), for both high-integration and low-integration RF devices.

The Port Scale RF solution is a solid state design with all of the RF resources located in the V93000 test head. It is based on fast solid state components.

The solution can be configured with 12, 24, or 48 RF ports. True quad-site is achieved with 24 RF ports and, with its high multi-site parallel efficiency, the solution addresses the port counts required by high-integration devices and provides the highest test efficiency to achieve the lowest COT. Port Scale RF meets increasing performance, yield and economic demands, offering high performance, with highly accurate, stable measurements and low noise floor (down to -161 dBm/Hz).

Port Scale RF features integrated analog and RF test setup, integrated test flow and step-by-step debug tools to reduce test development time. Verigy has added fast and accurate "one-click" intelligent calibration, and now uses an Eclipse software environment with an active hardware view, which provides the user with an intuitive, graphical view of the RF measurement block diagram, and the ability to export RF setups to test method templates. The solid state RF design and the water-cooled architecture of the V93000 mean that no test plan calibration is required during most of the development phase.

The Port Scale RF solution is comprised of the following modular cards and kit:

• RF Source card (instrument-quality signal generator 10 MHz-6 GHz);
• RF Front End card (each provides 12 RF ports);
• RF Interface (provides, high-density, robust RF interface to customers' load board and probe cards);
• MB AV8 card (provides 4 arbitrary wave generator (AWG) cores and 4 digitizer cores);
• 48 port RF calibration kit (support up to 10 RF systems with 1 kit).

SOURCE: Verigy