Educational Articles for Semiconductor Test Professionals
The semiconductor test market is undergoing tremendous pressure to reduce the cost of test and improve ROI as margins on low cost devices for applications such as IoT and memory decrease. With 5G taking off, there are additional challenges for more demanding wireless device testing and test of mmWave devices that will require a completely different approach. Therefore the industry is evolving to respond to these changes with different approaches.
According to Frost and Sullivan, the semiconductor ATE market is dominated by two major players comprising more than 90% of the market after much consolidation. But with an increase in innovative PXI-based solutions from companies such as National Instruments, Marvin Test and others being adopted by smaller players looking for lower cost/faster test systems, it is likely to provide momentum to the PXI market. So of the major trends in semiconductor test in growth in system in package (SiP), system on chip (SoC) solutions, Fan-out wafer-level packaging (FOWLP), connected devices, and cloud computing. New applications such as Augmented/Virtual Reality, connected/ autonomous vehicles, cloud storage, smart manufacturing and IoT are fueling the demand for connected devices. These trends are increasing the amount of ICs needed in today’s products providing resurgence in the semiconductor market.
According to SEMI, the overwhelming majority of semiconductor devices used to enable these end markets are commodities, creating a renaissance for smaller wafer diameter fabs (200 mm and smaller). The industry is also seeing the evolution of China transitioning from primarily being a consumer of chips towards developing a self-sufficient semiconductor supply chain. Advancements have been made in chip production with over 24 new fab construction projections underway or planned, prompting the wafer fab equipment market to exceed $11 billion in 2018 and to potentially surpass $18 billion by 2020. In order to assist semiconductor test customers with educational articles on these and other related topics, this eBook addresses some of the challenges test and measurement engineers are facing today.
The articles in this eBook include Mixed-Signal Instrumentation for Design and Test of 5G Systems, Automating Microwave Measurements with Software Defined Synthetic Instrumentation, Tips for Transitioning Designs to Manufacturing, The Quest for More Good Units per Hour (Big Data analysis for improving yields), Measurement Tips and Techniques: Know the Weakest Link in Your RF Network Analysis, and Basics of Power Amplifier & Front-End Module Measurements. We hope this eBook provides you with some new ideas and test techniques to improve your test and measurement operations.
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