News - Component Test

Floating Power Source to test High-Voltage and High-Current ICs

06 August 2014 – Advantest launched its new PVI8 floating power source, which extends the capabilities of its market-leading V93000 test platform for high-voltage and high-current testing of embedded power devices. This enhancement gives the V93000 sufficient power and enough analog and digital channels on a single platform to conduct highly parallel, cost-efficient testing of embedded power ICs.

“Our new test solution addresses the trend toward higher integration of digital, analog, high-speed and high-power functions on a single SoC (system-on-chip),” said Hans-Juergen Wagner, senior vice president, SoC Business Group at Advantest Corporation. “By offering massive parallel testing of microcontroller units with embedded power functions and other complex power devices, we are the first ATE supplier to provide the global semiconductor industry with the required channel density for testing these fast-growing devices in a very cost-efficient way.”

Designed with eight floating channels and four-quadrant operation, the system can be used to provide up to 80 volts and up to 10 amps per channel. The eight-channel PVI8 can be ganged up to ±80 amps for high-power stress testing of devices under test (DUTs) at their maximum ratings. For testing high-voltage supplies, the PVI8 can be stacked up to ±160 volts due to its floating design.

The unit’s measurement ranges are independent of the force ranges so operators may switch between ranges without subjecting DUTs to voltage or current spikes, powering down, latch up or device damage.

With its native pattern-controlled operation, the PVI8 does not need to interact with the test system CPU during power tests, leading to extremely fast test times. Highly stable measurements are achieved by maintaining a constant pattern speed as well as using short power pulses to prevent heating of the DUTs.

Each power VI channel has its own test processor and a large 56-MB memory, enabling efficient operation of the 16-bit arbitrary waveform generator (AWG) and fully pattern-controlled digitizer. The test processors’ high-capacity memories eliminate the need to reload waveforms of pattern-based instruments during program runs, allowing multiple tests to be performed within a single pattern sequence.

Advantest’s PVI8 floating source is shipping now to customers worldwide. The system is available as a factory-installed option on V93000 testers or as a field upgrade.

www.advantest.de/