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One Giant Leap ...
Leaders Seeking Adaptive Test
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Dear Colleague

Here is some information we think you will find of value. 
 
One Small Step for Pintail,
One Giant Leap for Adaptive Test
 chameleon green

Two weeks ago there was a low key public disclosure of an interesting meeting that took place at the International Test Conference in October.  The topic of Adaptive Test has been percolating for over five years now with little official recognition within our industry. For those of you like us who are excited to see the discipline of test take on a more prominent role as a proactive tool to improve yield and reliability, I believe that this event marked the beginning of an exciting new era for semiconductor test.

Pintail was honored to be invited to discuss the topic of Adaptive Test with test gurus from twelve of the most important semiconductor leaders in the industry: AMI, Avago Technologies, Freescale, IBM, Infineon, Intel, LSI Logic, NXP, Samsung, STMicroelectronics, Sun Microsystems and Texas Instruments. By comparing roadmaps of requirements with roadmaps for third party software development, there is great encouragement that our innovations will be more focused and effective at meeting user needs.

Twenty-five years ago, the computer industry was shocked to realize that the software content of future computing systems would cost more than the hardware. Today, the test industry is at a similar crossroads. ATE vendors have built their business models around revenue generated from hardware sales. Forward-thinking software vendors like Pintail have taken on the challenge of knocking down tough test obstacles with advanced software solutions. Is your organization prepared to take advantage of these coming change?

The text of the press release from the Die Products Consortium is included below. For those of you who want to learn more about Adaptive Test and how your organization can begin to use it, drop me an email or visit the leader in Adaptive Test software at www.pintial.com.

Industry Leaders Seek Adaptive Test

Chip Manufacturers and Test Software Vendors Share Roadmaps
 DPC Logo 

Austin, TX - February 1, 2008 - A subgroup of members of the Die Products Consortium, the AC Defects test team, is focused on a new generation of test and reliability methods for leading edge semiconductor devices known as Adaptive Test. The group sponsored a unique meeting with third party vendors of Adaptive Test solutions in Santa Clara, CA during the 2007 International Test Conference held in October.

Adaptive Test is a term used to describe a broad array of statistical methods for improving semiconductor test by adjusting the test plan based upon feedback from the test environment itself. This is a major departure from traditional test methods that follow a static plan and as has come to take on different meanings for different people. The AC Defects group surveyed the various ways in which adaptive test concepts have been proposed, implemented or anticipated by the member companies' IC testing strategies. The team agreed that, to facilitate an effective evolution of the algorithms, tools and infrastructure that will be required for tomorrow's test challenges the group should provide a summary of the findings to the commercial providers of adaptive test solutions.

Three vendors of adaptive test solutions were invited and attended the session: Pintail Technologies, Plano, Texas, OptimalTest, Nes-Ziona, Israel and Test Advantage Inc., Tempe, Arizona held in Santa Clara on October 22, 2007.

During the meeting, representatives of DPC member companies presented the "highest priority" applications of adaptive test from within the DPC subgroup and the corresponding support that is needed from the vendors. The group acknowledged the breath of methodologies that are currently in use and/or being planned for use.

The meeting was considered an important first step in moving the adaptive test solutions into a plug and play mode for IC manufacturers and third party test houses. Discussions are underway regarding potential follow-up meetings and/or activities. For more information, please contact Larry Gilg, Managing Director, DPC.

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The Die Products Consortium (DPC) is a program of Dynalog Systems, Inc. Under the DPC program, Dynalog Systems, Inc. has invited a group of leading microelectronics companies to collaborate in enlarging the markets for die products worldwide. The DPC is headquartered in Austin, Texas.

Please forward this newsletter to anyone in your organization interested in learning more about Adaptive Test. Also, drop me a note if you have feedback or recommendations for future articles.

 
Sincerely,
Taylor Scanlon
Pintail Technologies