Semiconductor test equipment supplier Advantest Corporation has expanded its industry-leading T5800 lineup of cost-efficient memory tester. The new T5835 system is a wide-coverage test for current and next-generation DRAM core and high-speed NAND devices. Moreover, it comes with 5.4Gbps operating speed and massive parallelism.

Interface speeds on both volatile and nonvolatile memory ICs are continuing to accelerate. Market trends indicate that mid-speed final testing of DRAM cores is increasing to achieve an optimal balance of reliability, test coverage, and cost efficiency.

Interface speeds for testing NAND memories bats at over 2Gbps for today’s high-speed devices. Correspondingly, it is likely to exceed 4Gbps for upcoming non-volatile memories.

Because of this, IC makers need a test solution that can keep pace with escalating performance requirements while also maintaining or improving the overall cost of test.

Covers Present, Future Chips

The new T5835 has full testing functionality for any memory ICs with operating speeds up to 5.4Gbps. At the same time, covering all next-generation memories from NAND flash devices to double-data-rate (DDR) and low-power double-data-rate (LPDDR) DRAM chips.

In addition, the system’s built-in dedicated hardware functions allow it to reach industry-leading throughput levels, lowering the cost of test. As such, it can handle 768 devices simultaneously for final package-level testing.

System capabilities include known-good-die (KGD) wafer-level testing of DRAMs and an enhanced programmable power supply (PPS) for advanced mobile memories. Furthermore, they are also capable of real-time DQS vs. DQ function to improve yield.

The T5835 comes on modular enhanced T5800 Series platform to optimize scalability, flexibility, and performance for both wafer sorting and final testing. Relatedly, configuration can be either as an engineering station for use in R&D environments or as a production-volume tester equipped with a small, medium, or large test head.

Best-in-Class Memory Tester

All system configurations of T5835 inherit Advantest’s existing memory test system and leverage the Future Suite operating system. Consequently, this aims to provide continuing test program compatibility. Moreover, these features allow users to seamlessly transition from previous generations of the T5800 series while maintaining production efficiency.

“On the strengths of its high performance and versatile capabilities, our new T5835 is truly today’s best-in-class memory tester and a first-class extension of the T5800 Series,” said Masayuki Suzuki, Executive Vice President of the Memory Test Business Unit with Advantest Corporation. “It continues the legacy of our T5800 product family, which has been acknowledged as the global standard in the market.”

The first T5835 systems are for delivery to Advantest’s key customers by the end of this year.