Advantest Ranks As THE BEST Assembly Test Equipment Supplier and the #1 Large Supplier of Chip Making Equipment in 2024 Customer Satisfaction Survey

In May, Advantest today announced it has once again received top ratings in the 2024 TechInsights Customer Satisfaction Survey, capturing the No. 1 spot on this prestigious annual survey of global semiconductor companies for the fifth consecutive year.

Advantest has been rated on the 10 BEST list for each of the 36 years that the survey has existed. The survey ratings are based on direct customer feedback representing more than 60% of the world’s chip producers, which include integrated device manufacturers (IDMs), fabless companies, and outsourced assembly and test (OSAT) providers. 

According to TechInsights, Advantest has been named THE BEST supplier of assembly test equipment this year and every year since 2020. The company also RANKED 1st for the fifth consecutive year in the 10 BEST list of large suppliers of chip making equipment and was the only company to receive a five-star rating. Worldwide participants rated equipment suppliers among 14 categories based on three key factors: supplier performance, customer service, and product performance. The categories span a set of criteria including cost of ownership, quality of results, field engineering support, trust, and partnership.  

In the 2024 survey, Advantest achieved high customer ratings in the areas of Partnering, Recommended Supplier, Trust in Supplier, Technical Leadership, Commitment, Support After Sales, and Product Performance. 

The TechInsights annual Customer Satisfaction Survey is the only publicly available opportunity since 1988 for customers to provide feedback on suppliers of semiconductor equipment and subsystems. The 10 BEST, THE BEST, and RANKED 1st awards provide special recognition to suppliers rated highest by their customers. 

As a global provider of test solutions for SoC, logic and memory semiconductors, Advantest has long been the industry’s only ATE supplier to design and manufacture its own fully integrated suite of test-cell solutions comprising testers, handlers, device interfaces, and software – assuring the industry’s highest levels of integrity and compatibility. 

Automotive Semiconductors Require Integrated Test Solution

The automotive semiconductor test market is experiencing organic growth as chipmakers produce higher volumes of devices serving an array of automotive applications. In addition, the range of applications for automotive-grade semiconductors is evolving as the technology advances. Manufacturers of automated test equipment (ATE) are adapting to ensure their systems can handle devices ranging from display drivers for all-electronic dashboards to silicon-carbide (SiC) power transistors for traction inverters.

Market data

The automotive industry’s use of semiconductors is growing, with carmakers now consuming about 8% to 10% of all semiconductors produced. This percentage is expected to rise as electric vehicles increase market share and as automakers outfit their vehicles with increasingly sophisticated advanced driver-assistance systems (ADASs). The trend is further driven by the increasing software content in vehicles to achieve higher levels of autonomy and by the migration of semiconductors once used primarily in luxury brands into mid-range and low-end cars over time.

According to Gartner, the worldwide automotive semiconductor market will grow from $67.5 billion in 2022 to $155.4 billion in 2032, when software-defined vehicles will surpass 90% of the total vehicles produced (up from 4.1% in 2022), unit production share of vehicles with internal combustion engines will drop below 60%, and autonomous vehicles above level 2 will reach 33.5 million, up from 4.2 million in 2022. (Level 2 implies partial driving automation in which an ADAS can handle steering and speed control, but a human must remain behind the wheel and be prepared to take control at any time.)

The automotive industry also presents demand fluctuations. At the height of the corona virus pandemic, for example, demand was aggressive and supplies were tight. Now, however, demand has moderated, supply chains have filled, and automakers have established second sources for many of the chips they require.

Expanding applications areas

Semiconductors have traditionally served a few primary applications in the automotive space. They have found use in engine control as well as the control of gear boxes, power windows, power steering, power brakes, seat heaters, and door locks. Microcontroller units (MCUs) typically handled the control functions, and they managed the sensors and actuators arranged in a distributed or zone architecture throughout the vehicle interconnected via a controller-area network (CAN) bus. For this scenario, a semiconductor test system that could test consumer-grade MCUs could easily handle the automotive MCUs, whose key difference was to meet automotive quality standards and to operate over the automotive temperature range. In addition, the standard battery voltage was 12 V,  so most available power and analog tester resources would suffice.

Today, however, technology has evolved, and cars contain many different devices of heightened complexity and higher voltage ranges. The traditional functions such as engine and gearbox control remain, but their requirements have become more stringent as automakers pursue higher efficiencies and, for internal combustion engines, reduced emissions.

HPC moves into cars

In this new scenario, high-performance computing (HPC) typical of servers is moving into cars to implement increasingly sophisticated ADAS capabilities that perform safety/life-critical functions. To help implement the HPC functionality, automakers are moving from a distributed to a centralized architecture, which requires massive data transfer from sensors throughout the vehicle to a central electronic control unit (ECU) incorporating a high-performance microprocessor unit (MPU), which in turn necessitates high-speed automotive network interfaces. Automotive MPUs compared to consumer devices have to fulfill more strict quality aspects, so typically the test coverage is increased, outlier detection is applied, and a burn-in test flow gets introduced. In addition, testing across a wide temperature range from -40°C to +125/175°C is a must.

Voltages increase

Other factors resulting from the evolution of automotive electronics include the move from 12-V to 48-V architectures to power adjustable seats, windows, heaters, and even mild-hybrid traction motors. ATE makers are developing higher voltage and current instruments to test the devices that enable these higher voltage architectures.

Hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs) and fully electric vehicles (EVs) add further test considerations, requiring not just MCUs and other low-voltage components but battery-management-system (BMS) devices and high-voltage power modules as well. HEVs present some test challenges, but they operate at comparatively low voltages compared with EVs, and their battery-powered driving range is only about 40 miles. 

In contrast, EVs delivering hundreds of horsepower incorporate converter electronics that can operate up to 800 V. In this respect, vehicle electronics is starting to resemble the electronics used in railway, wind-turbine, and solar-park applications, requiring high-power test methods. For EV traction inverters, automakers are increasingly turning to SiC devices because of their high-voltage capabilities and efficiency—SiC devices can extend the battery range of a high-end EV by an estimated 7% to 15%. 

SiC technology can prove to be challenging. For example, operations such as regenerative braking can stress the SiC devices, and automakers need effective test equipment to ensure the devices work. Of particular importance is the short-circuit test, which requires fast turn-off of the device. The test system must protect the device under test, the handler, the probe card, and the tester itself throughout 100% device test.

Meeting traditional and new requirements

Semiconductor test companies must be able to cover the gamut of devices—including DRAM, flash memory, MCUs, display drivers, and power devices—for both traditional and new automotive applications. They can leverage their capabilities for commercial applications to automotive devices, where the key differences include temperature range.

Advantest offers a complete lineup of test solutions to handle all automotive semiconductor test applications. For traditional MCUs and similar components, the Advantest V93000 and T2000 platforms perform high-quality cost-effective test at high throughput. Both platforms feature a module-based architecture that enables flexible reconfiguration through the rearrangement of functional modules according to the application. Available modules offer digital, high-performance analog, and power-mixed-signal capabilities for testing a wide range of devices, including advanced automotive devices for ADAS applications.

In addition to requiring HPC MCUs, ADASs require inputs from cameras, radar, infrared, and other sensors, which versions of the T2000 and V93000 can accurately test. Other automotive devices requiring effective test solutions find use in applications ranging from airbag deployment and antilock braking, where test is vital due to safety aspects. The tests can be performed using mixed-signal versions of the T2000 or V93000. Similarly, RF configurations of those systems can test devices ranging from radar sensors to infotainment system components.

Vehicles will continue to incorporate a variety of other devices, including traditional MCUs for dashboard functions, with all-electronic dashboards also requiring display-driver integrated-circuit (DDIC) devices. Advantest’s T63xx Series testers address DDIC test requirements across the -40 to +175°C temperature range.

For devices that require higher voltages and power levels than standard car components, Advantest offers test capabilities up to 2,000 V or >150 A using ganged power VI setups. High accuracy is also an important parameter for testing the latest generation of BMS devices. BMSs perform battery charging, protection, cell balancing, and battery state-of-charge estimation. Battery management systems present significant test challenges as cell stacks present more cells per BMS chip and accurate voltage monitoring becomes increasingly important to maximize usable capacity and extend cell life. 

To support BMS test, ATE will require high-voltage capabilities up to 160 V and the ability to provide highly accurate force and measurement performance <100 µV at high floating voltages. Advantest offers suitable and cost-effective test solutions to address all modern BMS ICs meeting the above requirements. 

High-energy test

Test equipment for high-power devices such as those used in traction inverters requires even higher voltage, current, and power ratings. The market for high-energy (HE) test equipment used to be relatively small, focusing on railway, wind-turbine, and similar applications. However, the EV market is poised to expand the requirements for HE test equipment that can handle 400-V/800-V operation. 

To address this market, Advantest in June 2022 acquired Italy-based CREA, whose products can test power devices manufactured by global semiconductor companies. The acquisition helps Advantest address the growing market for power semiconductors for a variety of efficient power devices, including SiC and gallium-nitride (GaN) implementations, as governments and industry pursue net-zero carbon emissions across a variety of applications areas—most notably the automotive industry.

The CREA product lineup features a chamber for bare die test that keeps temperatures under control and that maintains airflow to prevent sparking that can occur at high voltages. The company developed proprietary technology (called CREA LSI™) for its contacting system to achieve very low stray inductance, which improves device testability. CREA PCI technology provides protection for the device, probe card, tester, and handler against potential damage during short-circuit test, thus improving OEE (overall equipment efficiency) in production. In addition, the product lineup addresses the challenges of running high-energy tests in parallel.

The CREA product line complements the T2000 and V93000 to enable Advantest to provide full test coverage of the gamut of automotive semiconductor devices. Table 1 shows the full range of Advantest test solutions for semiconductor devices used across all automotive functions.

Table 1. Testers and handlers for devices and applications

Conclusion

As an automotive industry partner for many years, Advantest recognizes that electronics use in vehicles is evolving. Traditional electronic devices continue to find use, but new innovative products ranging from MCUs for HPC to power modules for use in traction inverters are becoming increasingly important. In addition, increasing electrification drives the need for more semiconductor testing to address high-demand, high-growth, complex requirements. Advantest recognizes the ever-broader requirement to create universal solutions that are customizable with user-friendly software to meet specific application needs. Advantest is uniquely positioned to see new technologies coming and to develop the solutions necessary to test them accurately, quickly, and cost-effectively.

Getting the Most Out of ATE Test Seconds in the Chiplet Age

This article is a condensed version of an article that appeared in EE Times on March 27, 2024. Adapted with permission. Read the original article here.

By Ira Leventhal, VP, U.S. Applied Research & Technology, Advantest America

In the 2023 movie BlackBerry, the head of AT&T Cingular explains to the BlackBerry CEO about Cingular’s strategy to sell data plans with the newly introduced Apple iPhone: “Do you know what the problem with selling minutes is? There’s only one minute in a minute.”

As someone working for a company selling “test seconds” for semiconductor devices, this got me thinking that there’s only one test second in a second. And while our customers may accept some additional test seconds to get a device to market quickly, those seconds need to settle back down to typical levels once devices ramp to high volume—or else those additional test seconds are coming right out of our customer’s bottom line. 

In the pre-chiplet/pre-heterogenous integration world, tester resources needed to be faster and more accurate than the device-under-test. While this requirement has certainly provided significant challenges over the years, we now face the added challenge of having to be smarter than the complex, multi-chip system-under-test.

And we must meet this added challenge as 2.5D and 3D packaging are reducing direct access to device pins, and general-purpose processors are giving way to artificial intelligence (AI) processors that serve multiple specialized applications. If you don’t take advantage of AI-based approaches, the companies that do are going to take away your business.

Making it happen

How do we squeeze more than one second of value out of one test second? The data collected during those test seconds can be combined with data from across the semiconductor value chain, enabling feed-forward and feed-backward applications for optimizing design, manufacturing, and test processes.

Multiple successes have already been achieved by connecting data from two or more manufacturing or test steps and taking advantage of improvements in machine learning and edge compute technology to gain more insight from this data. Continuing to build on these successes can achieve a critical mass that will fuel further development of the enabling technologies.

I believe we are just cracking the surface in terms of the additional value that can be extracted from the data collected during those test seconds. The creation and widespread adoption of innovative approaches for extracting this value will be a key requirement for success in the chiplet age.

Concurrent Measurement on Wave Scale RF8 Enables Wi-Fi 7 EVM Test Improvements

By Joerg-Walter Mohr, Product Definition Expert, Advantest Corp.

The November 2022 issue of GO SEMI & Beyond included an article detailing how Advantest has evolved our Wave Scale family of test cards for the V93000 test platform by readying Wave Scale RF8 to address the test challenges associated with the forthcoming Wi-Fi 7 standard. This article provides further details on how to augment the Wave Scale RF8 solution by putting an additional splitter on the load board. With this splitter, two RF measurement systems can be used concurrently/simultaneously to improve the EVM measurement of one DUT RF signal.

The Wi-Fi 7 standard covers the now less congested frequency range between 6 GHz and 7.125 GHz, which was opened as an extension to Wi-Fi 6 and called Wi-Fi 6E. Wi-Fi 7 utilizes this wide 6 GHz Band with channel bandwidth up to 320 MHz and going up to 4096 Quadrature Amplitude Modulation (QAM) schemes.

The Wave Scale RF8 solution addresses the test challenges associated with Wi-Fi 7 by providing the frequency range and the bandwidth needed in an industry-proven instrument (Figure 1). 

Figure 1.  Wave Scale RF8 enables measurements that fully address the frequency and bandwidth expansions associated with the Wi-Fi 7 standard.

The Error Vector Magnitude (EVM) of the modulated/demodulated symbols is an important figure of merit to describe the signal fidelity. EVM is measured either in % or in dB, where dB is used for smaller values for better readability. Wi-Fi 7 standard allows device transmitters to reach an EVM of -38 dB at most. Thus, devices will have better specs and production test equipment must be able to check those, e.g. -41 dB must be checked, which means test measurement unit should provide at least an EVM test capability of -44 dB if the device has a 3dB margin. Of course, for characterization purposes it is desired to have a test measurement unit with an EVM better than -50 dB.

Figure 2.  Wave Scale RF8 concurrently measures with two RF subsystems one DUT Tx signal by adding a splitter on the load board.

Wave Scale RF8 EVM measurement performance can be improved by putting an additional splitter on the load board to enable the use of two RF subsystems simultaneously, as shown in Figure 2. By evaluating for each demodulated symbol the EVM, which is commonly detected by both RF subsystems, and neglecting the individual contributions to EVM of each RF subsystem, -50 dB EVM measurement capability is enabled for Wi-Fi 7 160 MHz 4096 QAM as shown in Figure 3.

Figure 3.  EVM concurrentMeasAB test -50 dB for highest carrier frequency of Wi-Fi 7 160 MHz. Result with and without splitter for 160 MHz plus common error.

The reduced dynamic range due to the loss via the splitter can be compensated for by averaging in cases where the focus of the test is the detection of impairments caused by non-linearities. With averaging even for Wi-Fi 7 320MHz -50 dB EVM test capability can be achieved as shown in Figure 4.

Figure 4.  EVM concurrentMeasAB + averaging test -50 dB for different frequency of Wi-Fi 7 320 MHz.

Summary

Using the high parallelism of the Wave Scale RF8 together with advanced test method addresses higher test requirements of the new standards like Wi-Fi 7 in the sub 8GHz frequency range. This might even be true for some upcoming FR3 applications in 5G/6G bands.

The Future of Data Analytics and Semiconductor Testing

This article is adapted with permission from a recent Advantest blog post.

By Michael Chang, Vice President & GM ACS, Advantest

The world is changing more rapidly than ever. With the explosion of Artificial Intelligence (AI), Machine Learning (ML) and data analytics, semiconductor manufacturers now have the opportunity to extract valuable insights from the massive amounts of data being generated throughout the silicon lifecycle. By leveraging AI algorithms and ML, semiconductor manufacturers can now optimize silicon design, assembly, and testing processes. It is through the analysis of these vast amounts of data, AI can quickly identify patterns, predict failures, and optimize quality. 

So, what does this all mean? It means that we now have the capability to greatly improve yield rates, reduce production costs, and accelerate time-to-market. Ultimately, the goal is to create an end-to-end utilization of analytics throughout manufacturing and test operations so that data analytics and ML will enhance the speed and accuracy of the testing process, reduce the risk of defects, and help the entire industry move ever closer to its goal of zero defects.  

This is where Advantest is revolutionizing the test industry. We just announced Advantest’s ACS Real-Time Data Infrastructure (ACS RTDI™), a solution that offers advanced analytics, including machine learning capabilities and future-proof, real-time, automated production control. The Advantest ACS ecosystem integrates all data sources across the entire IC manufacturing supply chain, a revolutionary first in the industry. In fact, ACS has been collaborating with multiple major data analytics companies as part of an industry-wide collaboration to accelerate data analytics and AI/ML decision-making within a single, integrated platform. These partnerships will help customers take advantage of new levels of data integrity and security across different test nodes and benefit from proven infrastructure solutions that will enable them to achieve new levels of operational efficiency. 

This is how Advantest is unlocking the intrinsic value of AI in semiconductor testing. 

The ACS RTDI platform integrates data sources across the entire IC manufacturing supply chain while employing low-latency edge computing and analytics in a secure True Zero Trust™ environment. This innovative infrastructure minimizes the need for human intervention, streamlining overall data utilization across multiple insertions and supporting customers’ databases. Because security remains a top concern among customers, the ACS RTDI platform has been architected to be reliable and safe, ensuring hassle-free OS revisions, while protecting data from unauthorized access or loss. This is accomplished by leveraging True Zero Trust™. Overall, the new ACS ecosystem will enable customers to boost quality, yield, and operational efficiencies, and to accelerate product development and new product introductions for years to come.

To fully support ACS’s revolutionary strategy, we also offer the ACS Solution Store which enables customers to choose from a comprehensive collection of software solutions designed for the digital age, addressing major challenges facing the semiconductor industry and that can be tailored to individual customer needs. Customers can select from the ever-expanding catalog of solutions in an easy-to-navigate browsable online catalog ― from a growing list/ team of partners joining the Advantest open solution ecosystem revolution.

Figure 1: Semiconductor Integrated Workflow and Benefits

Learn more about how Advantest is improving the technological world by setting a new standard in the semiconductor industry on our website: https://www.advantest.com/acs/overview/.

Solving High-Energy Testing Challenges

This article is a condensed version of an article that appeared in the November 2023 issue of Electronic Specifier. Adapted with permission. Read the original article here, p. 12.

By Fabio Marino, Managing Director, CREA, an Advantest company

Although the global semiconductor market is currently experiencing a slowdown, the automotive sector remains solid fueled by the demand for EVs. What used to be a niche market is now rapidly expanding to the mainstream, and companies that supply power IC technology must increase production volume to meet growing demand. 

Last year, CREA leased a new building to expand production capacity and keep up with ongoing business growth. This will allow CREA to produce test equipment for a wide variety of power semiconductors, including insulated-gate bipolar transistors (IGBT) and silicon carbide (SiC) and gallium nitride (GaN) semiconductors. SiCs’ advantages over traditional IGBTs include higher thermal conductivity, better ability to tolerate high voltages, higher switching speeds and lighter weight. Wide-bandgap technology such as SiC is the key to developing more efficient advanced battery systems that will enable new electric vehicles (EVs) to go farther and faster. 

Addressing high-power test requirements

Parasitic inductance and capacitance, which play an important role in the measurement, can create conditions that may damage the tester. Thus, testing high-powered SiC devices requires highly refined, specialized test equipment. CREA’s low-stray-inductance and probe card interface (PCI) technology enables engineers to minimize parasitic values. This allows the performance of specialized tests needed to ensure reliability and quality, facilitating the development of efficient batteries for new EVs. 

To meet customer demands for lower cost, CREA is expanding its bare-die test capabilities. Bare-die test utilizing the PCI and thermal control technology holds the key to expanding dynamic test to the wafer level. Package test is simpler, but if a single switch malfunctions, the entire package must be discarded. Bare-die test is more cost-efficient and creates less waste—the only challenge is that a probe card is needed to perform the test. Probe cards are fragile, and the high amount of energy generated during dynamic test can break the probe card and damage the tester itself.

CREA’s PCI technology monitors each probe needle for abnormal current distributions, shutting off the tester when such an abnormality is detected to prevent damage. CREA also developed a chamber for bare-die test that moderates temperature by controlling airflow to prevent sparking that can occur while working with high voltages, ultimately reducing the threat of harm to the ATE.

SiC technology provides many benefits over traditional IGBT technology, as noted earlier. While many major semiconductor companies are investing in R&D to support SiC technology, SiC is very different from silicon wafer technology. It requires completely different equipment, and the automated tools that factories currently have are designed for silicon wafers and will not work with SiC. Because SiC is a maturing technology, production yields are low. This creates a significant opportunity for test companies to deliver SiC-optimized test equipment. CREA continues to refine its power IC testing technology to increase yield and help customers maintain sustainable business models that can keep up with rising demand.

Conclusion

Fueled by major investments from the global semiconductor community, the power IC industry is evolving quickly. This creates significant opportunities for companies like CREA that are building solutions to address high-power specs and overcome industry challenges.

CREA’s patented LSI™ and PCI™ technology provides specialized testing solutions for power ICs found in hybrid and EV automotive engines. These solutions will accelerate the shift from 400V to 800V batteries, accommodating the testing specs needed to develop cutting-edge EV technology. Today, CREA engineers are developing techniques to run high-energy tests in parallel – increasing yield and helping to accommodate rising global demand for SiC and other advanced power semiconductors. 

CREA’s Power Device Testers