ATE: Not so easy: As components and subsystems become more complex, automatic testing grows difficult and costly

The demands of production-line testing pose both challenge and frustration to designers of automatic test equipment (ATE). The challenge is to continually enhance the capabilities of the equipment so that system designers, ever on the alert to utilize the latest components, will be able to maintain high production throughput. The frustration is that each important technology advance in integrated circuits has made the job of automatic testing an increasingly difficult — if not impossible — and costly one to accomplish.