ATE suppliers join chip makers and OSATs under CAST banner

By Suzanne Deffree, Managing Editor, News -- 10/28/2008

Several ATE (automated test equipment) companies, IDMs (integrated device manufacturers), and OSAT (outsourced semiconductor assembly and test) companies have formed the "Collaborative Alliance for Semiconductor Test" (CAST), a new industry group that could challenge or complement the well established Semiconductor Test Consortium (STC).

Charter CAST supporters include Advantest, Amkor, Infineon, Intel, LTX-Credence, Qualcomm, Roos Instruments, Teradyne, and Verigy. Advantest, Infineon, Intel, and Roos are also established members of STC.

"Our goal is to collaborate across company boundaries in critical areas of concern while retaining free and full competition," said Debbora Ahlgren, VP and chief marketing officer of Verigy and co-chair of the CAST planning group, in a statement today from the International Test Conference in Santa Clara, Calif. "Our intent is to formalize the organization within one of the existing associations serving the industry in the very near term."

CAST outlined its specific objectives to include: fostering pre-competitive collaboration, with emphasis on manufacturing process cost, efficiency, and yield, beginning with wafer test and ending with shipment to the customer; researching, developing, and promoting standards that allow industry productivity improvement; defining and measuring benchmark criteria for quantifying end-user process efficiency and effectiveness, and identifying opportunities to improve that efficiency via collaborative efforts; and acting as a representative and an advocate for its member companies.

While Ahlgren did not state which existing associations CAST is looking to place itself within, STC, like CAST, aims to foster pre-competitive collaboration among all industry participants toward development of value-added standards. The six-year-old organization also aims to provide a set of tools to facilitate implementation of the standards in real products; to foster industry wide participation; and to focus on the initiatives of most value to the members of the STC and the industry at large based on member and non-member feedback.

STC was originally announced at the 2002 Semicon West show by Advantest with support from Intel. In October of that year at the International Test Conference STC announced expanded member support including Roos, Stridge, and Wavecrest.

From the show floor this morning STC announced that it has added Aeroflex, Geotest-Marvin Test Systems, and National Instruments to its ranks, which is comprised of about 90 members and sees collaboration between IDMs, universities, semiconductor laboratories, instrumentation vendors, subassembly providers, and integrators.

Speaking to CAST, R Keith Lee, Advantest America's president and CEO, said in the statement that the formation of the alliance is a "natural outgrowth of collaborative efforts that have taken place within the industry over the past several years."

Added Don Edenfeld of Intel and CAST's planning group co-chair: "The formation of CAST is a significant and a natural next step in the evolution of the semiconductor test industry. CAST's charter combined with broad industry participation presents a unique opportunity to collaborate on standards and define clear and achievable goals that will benefit the entire industry."

More information on CAST is expected to be released Wednesday at a 3 pm pacific time at an International Test Conference open meeting.

Editor's note: This story's headline originally incorrectly stated Advantest was heading CAST. The headline was revised on October 30 at 10:30am eastern.

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