Teradyne Introduces High Voltage Digital Option for Automotive/Power Devices; Automotive Device Test for ABS, Airbag or Engine Controller Units

    MUNICH, Germany--April 1, 2003--Teradyne, Inc. introduced a High Voltage Digital (HVD) option for the Integra FLEX test system. The new instrumentation on the FLEX delivers significantly lower test costs for automotive devices by reducing test times and equipment costs compared to traditional automotive test approaches. The FLEX HVD option is an economical solution for testing digital communication interfaces for automotive/power semiconductor devices such as ABS, Airbag or Engine Controller Units (ECU).
    The High Voltage Digital option leverages the FLEX pattern generator micro code-controlled PSET programming environment, which ensures the HVD option is fully synchronized with all instruments on the FLEX test system. Teradyne's FLEX is the only test system providing this pattern generator capability which is essential for complex automotive semiconductor devices such as Airbag or Engine Controller Units where synchronization between digital and analog instruments is mandatory to keep test times at a minimum.
    The HVD option on FLEX enables automotive manufacturers to improve test times while diminishing the number of semiconductor testers and instrumentation reducing the overall cost of test. Teradyne's FLEX is designed for manufacturers to achieve tester configuration freedom and engineering efficiency. Configuration freedom means fewer testers to meet consumer market dynamics. And, engineering efficiency means your engineers are focused on device production.
    "The HVD option on FLEX delivers an exciting new approach to automotive semiconductor device test that really crunches test times," said Martin Stadler, Consumer Business Unit Product Manager, Teradyne. "Testing automotive devices and in particular testing devices which require high voltage digital performance such as highly integrated ABS or Airbag controllers require a very diverse set of instrumentation ranging from high voltage digital channels to VI sources and timing measurement instrumentation. Those resources are limited in traditional automotive testers and therefore limit the amount of pins and sites that can be tested in parallel. The HVD option delivers the entire suite of instrumentation needed for a complete device test and allows to test digital performance, high voltage clamp, propagation delay, rise and fall times within a single resource at 24x channels per HVD option board. This enables parallel test of pins and sites and cuts down test times and equipment costs. In addition the HVD option delivers a fully automated hysteresis test capability at multiple pins and sites in parallel which will change the way manufacturers think about automotive device test."

    About FLEX

    FLEX combines three key test technology innovations to increase productivity for IC makers: SOC Tester Per Pin architecture, universal slots, and multi-level IGXL 5.0 software. Lower test cost is achieved by testing more devices faster with the new SOC Tester Per Pin architecture. Unlike last generation serial systems that limit parallel efficiency, FLEX is a collection of fully parallel self-contained instruments. Each has its own clock, sequencer, dynamic setup memory and parametric capability; even the DC instruments are pattern driven, synchronized to the device. The universal slot tester-in-a-test-head allows any mix of digital, DC, analog, power, and microwave resources. When device volume needs change, FLEX is easily reconfigured to match the new test demands. Universal slots make FLEX more efficient, allowing higher site counts and quick change as needs shift. FLEX changes everything with multilevel IGXL 5.0 software: template programming, device specific test procedures, and low-level system control - all at once. To learn more about FLEX, the test system awarded Best in Test by Test and Measurement World magazine, visit www.teradyne.com/integraflex.

    About Teradyne

    Teradyne is the world's largest supplier of Automatic Test Equipment, and a leading supplier of interconnection systems. The company's products deliver competitive advantage to the world's leading semiconductor, electronics, automotive and network systems companies. In 2002, Teradyne had sales of $1.22 billion, and employed about 7000 people worldwide. For more information, visit www.teradyne.com.