Search

At frequencies above a few gigahertz, testing integrated circuits becomes a challenging task. Test signal integrity degradation due to parasitic effects of interconnects and electromagnetic coupling undermine the test results and increase the yield loss of integrated circuits at high speeds. A new test interface module based on MEMS technology is proposed in this paper. High-speed micro test-channels are designed to establish connectivity between the device under test and the tester at the die level. Experimental results indicate that the proposed architecture can be used to test integrated circuits up to 50 GHz without much loss or distortion.

Special electronic devices which contain boundary-scan facilities that are compatible with the IEEE Standard 1149.1 and which were originally developed to facilitate the test of electronic equipment during board production offer also an excellent tool for permanent control of even large electronic systems. Here the control of a part of the electronics of a complex High-Energy Physics experiment is described.

The IEEE-488 instrumentation interface is widely used both to control and acquire data from chemical instrumentation and electronic test equipment. Research chemists sometimes require that communications with IEEE-488 compatible instruments be incorporated into their own data acquisition and analysis programs. High level languages such as Microsoft QuickBASIC and commercially available drivers greatly simplify this task. Example routines for triggered acquisition of transient waveforms at rates in excess of 2.5 MHz are adapted from ongoing work in this laboratory.

Automatic and automated test equipment in mechanical engineering often are problem-dependent. The amount of required investments, the lack of integration into production as well as the rigid programming of the test task have prevented a spread use of such equipment. Increasing demands for the quality of products and the necessary rationalization even in quality control can only be satisfied when using automated test equipment to support the test personal. Fully automated test systems are only helpful in special cases. This paper lists the fundamental requirements and aspects of such automated equipment and explains them by example. The resulting functions can be implemented on standard microcomputer systems by minimum operating systems. One main point of view is the trouble-free interfacing to different measurement aids, another the problem- and not machine-oriented programming of the test task. These are major aspects to achieve a maximum acceptance by the test personal which in turn will increase the affect of rationalization when using these systems.

In extensive electronic systems, reliability of operation is difficult to attain by diagnostic methods of fault finding, because the greater probability of a component fault in large equipment leads to an increase in shut-down time. Operational time can be increased enormously if proper test devices are built into the equipment and continuously centrally monitored, to enable faulty units to be found quickly and replaced. This is also the case where redundant circuits are used, so that loss of redundancy due to a fault may be made good as soon as possible. Location of faults is greatly facilitated if all the equipment, including the fault indicator display, is decimalized in arrangement. It is essential that equipment should be designed for such monitoring from the beginning, as it is costly and inefficient to do otherwise. A broad approach to the problem is described, mainly in relation to low-power equipment, but also applicable to high-power apparatus.