FormFactor has introduced a test platform for automotive devices that can reduce wire bond or system-on-chip device pad pitch as low as 60 µm, increase the number of die tested in parallel to x64, and test at temperatures up to 150 degrees C.

“IC reliability and performance testing is especially critical in automotive applications, where semiconductors are used to control a variety of systems such as engine management components, active and passive safety systems, and other mechanisms,” said Igor Khandros, FormFactor’s chief executive officer.

“Higher temperature testing at the wafer level helps ensure high reliability and assists manufacturers in achieving their goal of zero defects per million devices. This product allows our customers to conduct these critical tests while leveraging our probe card’s ability to test more devices in parallel — improving test throughput and lowering the cost-of-test.”

Khandros said that heretofore, only a few logic devices can be tested in parallel due to the constraints of conventional cantilever probing solutions. “As the number of electronic systems increase in automobiles, unit volumes per design and cost pressures are rising. In addition, the integration of flash memory and other increased functionality is driving up test times for automotive devices — in some cases by an order of magnitude, from a few seconds to up to a few minutes or more. As a result, manufacturers are faced with a need for higher levels of test parallelism to reduce the cost of test,” he said.

FormFactor’s MEMS-based probe card features scalable MicroSpring contact designs for higher pin counts and fewer touchdowns per-wafer compared with alternative technologies. Khandros said that by testing more devices per wafer, chip manufacturers can extend the life of their test equipment. FormFactor’s design roadmap for current MicroSpring technology will extend FormFactor’s pitch capability to smaller nodes.