Out in Front: May 23, 1996
Schlumberger's ITS 9000EXA mixed-signal IC-test system can test most mixed-signal ICs, excluding RF devices, but it is not necessarily the most economical solution for every such chip. It's better suited for testing multimedia devices, such as PCI-bus multimedia chips, with demanding analog specifications, complex digital functions, and many very-high-speed digital pins.Among the system's banner specifications are the ability to drive and detect signals on as many as 448 digital pins at data rates as high as 200 MHz. Memory is as deep as 32M vectors, and edge-placement accuracy is 275 psec. Algorithmic pattern generation, particularly useful for testing memory structures, is optional. In the analog domain, the system noise floor is less than -110 dB, allowing testing of 20-bit ADCs and DACs. At this resolution, the system can update its sources and sample signals from the device under test as fast as 100k samples/sec. A high-frequency measurement system captures data with 14-bit resolution to 20 MHz and with 10-bit resolution to 50 MHz. Using sequential sampling, the system can make 16-bit-resolution measurements on 1-GHz signals. Prices begin at approximately $1.4 million.
—by Dan Strassberg
Schlumberger Technologies, San Jose, CA. (408) 437-5091.