Quo Vadis Test? The Past, the Present, and the Future: No Longer a Necessary Evil

For a long time, test was considered to be an afterthought in the design and manufacturing of integrated circuits. Designers were the heroes of the industry and the foundry was the magical (and mysterious) place where wafers were produced and revenue generated. The test engineers worked in the background-quietly and without much fuss-and they were there just to catch the chips that were tossed to them, and toss back the chips that passed scrutiny. Test was a “four-letter word” and it was indeed deemed to be a necessary evil. The world of design and test was separated by an insurmountable brick wall. The test industry was dominated by tester companies that made the “Big Iron” automatic test equipment (ATE).