Title: A SOFTWARE / HARDWARE DIGITAL BASED FUNCTIONAL IC TESTER
ABSTRACT: This paper describes the implementation of a low cost PC - based logic system suitable for either small scale chip or printed circuit board testing. The system incorporates a flexible graphical user interface(GUI) which permits users with little or no programming expertise to generate tests and operate the system quickly and efficiently. System cost is of the order of £1,000 which makes it very attractive to SME's.
Project INTRO: In any manufacturing industry there are continuous efforts to effect cost reductions, upgrade quality and improve overall efficiencies. In the electronics industry, with the dramatic increase in circuit complexity and the need for higher levels of reliability, a major contributory cost of any product can be in the testing. However, in the real world we have to recognise that no process can be perfect, so that testing, and in particular, automatic testing, will be an essential part of production for the foreseeable future. In this paper the development of a prototype digital functional IC tester is described. The test system has been designed so that the end user has total control over how testing of IC's is to be carried out. The end user will have the ability to change or redefine pin connections of any IC within the data bank, alter test vectors previously defined, specify the master clock period, carry out simulated testing, check the contents of the data base and obtain information on the PC 8255 I/O Card set-up.The test system has been developed to allow for a more detailed examination of how IC's operate for particular functional tests. To date all test systems on the market (except for extremely expensive ATE)only inform the end user whether the device under test (DUT) has passed or failed their own predefined test. This gap in the market has called for this prototype tester.
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