Work in progress -test engineering program

A pilot program of lectures and laboratory work in mixed-signal test development engineering has been initiated at San Jose State University with support from Agilent Technologies and National Semiconductor Corporation. Class one uses bench-top equipment and a specifically-designed printed circuit board to explore the basic issues of testing: accuracy, guard bands, design for test (DfT), DSP-based tests, load board design, and the blocks of the per-pin architecture present in all manufacturing testers. Class two revisits many of the issues of class one in off-line and on-line programs for a variety of manufacturing testers. The trade-offs of accuracy versus test time are focal. This paper outlines the primary course sequence and its laboratory work.