So, what exactly does testing your electronic equipment include, and why would you want to do it? Speed, quality, and consistency are key in the realm of high-tetchy product manufacturing. The higher your profits and customer experience are, the faster you can test and deliver your items. You’ll need the best, most efficient, and most trustworthy test equipment available to get those results.
What Is Automated Test Equipments (ATE)
Computer-controlled and measurement equipment known as automated test equipment (ATE) provides for testing with minimum human input. The gadgets being evaluated are referred to as “those under test” (DUT). Reduced testing time, reproducibility, and cost-efficiency in the big volume are advantages of this type of testing. The initial costs of programming and setup are the most significant disadvantages.
Automated test equipment can test printed circuit boards, connectors, and verifications. They’re extensively employed in radar and wireless communication. volt-ohm meters detect resistance and voltages in PCs; advanced ATE systems have numerous processes that conduct high-level electronic diagnostics automatically.
ATE is used to discover flaws and confirm whether a DUT works quickly. The testing ends when the first out-of-tolerance value is found, and the device fails.
Semiconductor Testing
The architecture of an ATE that tests semiconductors consists of a master controller (a computer) that synchronizes and captures one or more sources and instruments, such as an industrial PC or mass interconnect. A handler or probe machine physically connects the DUT to the ATE, and a tailored Interface Test Adapter (ITA) adapts the ATE’s resources to the DUT.
When testing packed parts, a handler positions the device on a specific interface board, when testing silicon wafers, high-precision probes are utilized to test directly on the silicon wafer.
Test Types
Logic Testing
Microprocessors, gate arrays, ASICs, and other logic devices are tested using logic test systems.
Analog-to-digital converters (ADCs), digital-to-analog converters (DACs), comparators, track-and-hold amplifiers, and video devices are tested with linear or mixed-signal equipment. Audio interfaces, signal processing functionalities and high-speed transceivers are all included in these components.
Passive component ATEs test capacitors, resistors, inductors, and other passive components. Typically, testing is carried out by using a test current.
Transistors, diodes, MOSFETs, regulators, TRIACS, Zeners, SCRs, and JFETs are tested using discrete ATEs.
Printed Circuit Board Testing
Manufacturing defect analyzers, in-circuit, and functional analyzers are examples of printed circuit board testers.
MDAs can detect manufacturing flaws such as shorts and missing components, but they can’t test digital ICs because they test with the DUT turned off (cold). As a result, they presume the ICs are in good working order. MDAs are analog circuit testers and are substantially less expensive than other test solutions.
In-circuit analyzers examine the components of a board assembly. The components being tested are “connected” in some way. The DUT has been turned on (hot). Because of the high density of tracks and components in most modern designs, in-circuit testers are quite powerful, but they are limited. To make effective contact, the contact pins must be set extremely precisely. Digital circuit testers, or ICTs, are another name for them.
A functional test mimics an operating environment and compares a board’s specifications to the available ones. Due to the equipment’s inability to keep up with the increasing speed of boards, functional automated test equipment (FATE) is unpopular. As a result, there is a lag between the test board and the manufacturing process. Functional test equipment, often known as emulators, comes in various shapes and sizes.
Interconnection and Verification Testing
Cable and harness testers and bare-board testers are examples of connectivity and verification test types.
On cable harnesses, distribution panels, wiring looms, flexible circuits, and membrane switch panels with commonly-used connector layouts, cable and harness testers are used to detect opens (missing connections), shorts (open relationships), and miswires (wrong pins). Resistance and hipot tests are two further tests done by automated test equipment.
Before assembly and wave soldering, bare board automated test equipment is used to determine the completeness of a PCB circuit.
Configurations
Each circuit net on the board is linked to the tester, often with one nail per net, in a bed-of-nails design. Pins on a printed circuit board are positioned to contact test points. Wires connect them to a measurement unit as well. When the DUT is put against the BON, hundreds or thousands of separate test spots come into touch. BONs often require a vacuum or air source to ensure that the hold-down force is provided.
The flying probe system has fewer moving probes than the BON, with many fixed probes. Test periods may be longer because of the probe motions, but the approach compensates for this. In practice, a flying probe on a board with thousands of nets of passive components and hundreds of digital devices can provide close to 100 percent test coverage. It’s great for introducing new products with assembled boards.
Scanning probe microscopes, for example, are optical inspection tools that show surface imperfections. Test equipment, electrical sources, and measurements are not required for optical inspections. Automatic optical review is beneficial when installed at the end of a line that produces soldered boards.
It can immediately identify production flaws such as solder faults and improper component alignment. The setup time can be lengthy, but once it is completed, the system can efficiently handle boards, making it perfect for high-volume processing. Optical inspection is analogous to automated x-ray examination. It can inspect solder joints by looking through IC packages.
Features
Boundary-scan capabilities, temperature control, and STDF support are all common features of automated test equipment (standard test data format).
Standards
Several national and international criteria must be met by automated test equipment. The Air Force of the United States of America has issued a standardized guideline for ATLAS high order language (HOL) for automatic test equipment and modular ATE. Automatic test equipment and general-purpose ATE date criteria are specified in British Defense Standards.
Conclusion
Automatic test equipment (ATE) is a term used to describe any instrument that uses automation to perform measurements and assess test findings on a device, often known as the device under test (DUT), equipment under test (EUT), or unit under test (UUT) (UUT). Automated test equipment (ATE) is a system of dozens of complex test instruments (actual or simulated electronic test equipment) capable of evaluating and diagnosing problems in sophisticated electronic packaged parts or on-wafer testing, such as systems on chips and integrated circuits.
For any question or purchase of ATE equipment or any other electrical component, contact us at ICRFQ. We are the best electrical components manufacturer in China.
If you want to find more Electronic Components Distributors, please check out the following articles:
Electronic Components Distributors In the USA
Electronic Components Distributors In UK
Electronic Components Distributors In China
Electronic Components Distributors In India
Electronic Components Distributors In Singapore
Electronic Components Distributors In Malaysia
Electronic Components Distributors In Vietnam
Electronic Components Distributors In South Korea
