Leading semiconductor test equipment supplier Advantest Corporation has announced Pin Scale Multilevel Serial, its newest high-speed I/O (HSIO) instrument. Specifically, the new tool is designed for use with the V93000 EXA Scale ATE platform. Pin Scale Multilevel Serial is both the first native EXA Scale HSIO instrument and the first fully-integrated HSIO ATE instrument to address signaling requirements for advanced communication interfaces.

HSIO interfaces, long prevalent in the computing space, have found their way into consumer interfaces. Among them are HDMI®, DisplayPort™ and USB. Meanwhile, in the computing space, PCI Express (PCIe) 5.0 and 6.0 are entering the multi-gigabit data-rate range. Along this line, they are being leveraged in embedded single-board computers. Companies testing large digital designs and their interfaces, from microcontrollers and mobile application processors to high-performance computing and artificial intelligence (AI) devices, require HSIO to accommodate these high-density designs. Thus, HSIO testing is vital for the characterization of these new device designs as well as for early device manufacturing ramp phases.

Pin Scale Multilevel Serial supports data rates up to 32Gbps. It is the first fully-integrated ATE instrument that natively supports multilevel signaling (e.g., PAM4). Mainly, it is rapidly growing in high-speed interfaces. This heightens ease of use as it enables adoption of programming schemes typical in digital test. Thus, it reduces test program development time and cost. As such, it helps to optimize leading-edge technologies and speed time to market by providing additional test coverage for ramping of new chip designs.

As mentioned, Pin Scale Multilevel Serial is fully integrated. Accordingly, it promotes easy configuration into the EXA Scale platform. Competitive offerings typically require an integration stage mounted between the top of the test head and interface, to the device under test. As a result, it degrades signal performance and worsens manufacturing integration.

“The rapid rise of high-data-rate applications at the exascale level is fueling the need for new signal processing capabilities in a flexible ATE instrument.” This is according to Ralf Stoffels, executive officer and division manager, 93000 Product Unit at Advantest Corporation. “Our new Pin Scale Multilevel Serial card builds on our HSIO expertise to enable a fully integrated approach that significantly extends the capabilities of our V93000 EXA Scale, strengthening the value that we bring to customers working on these advanced devices.”

Pin Scale Multilevel Serial is currently in early evaluation with several leading customers. Advantest will soon accept purchase orders for the new instrument. To learn more about Pin Scale Multilevel Serial and the V93000 EXA Scale™ test platform, visit www.advantest.com/products/soc/v93000/exa.html.