Advantest Adds System-Level Testing Capability for Advanced Memory ICs Used in High-Growth Automotive Market

Semiconductor Test Equipment Leader Upgrades its T5851 Platform to Enable Testing of NVMe Solid-State Drives

Leading semiconductor test equipment supplier Advantest Corporation (TSE: 6857) has installed its first enhanced T5851-STM16G tester capable of nonvolatile memory express (NVMe) system-level test coverage at a major manufacturer of IC memory devices. By expanding the capabilities of its established T5851 platform, Advantest is now able to address the growing market for testing NVMe solid-state drives (SSDs) using ball-grid arrays (BGAs), which are seeing rapidly increasing use in automotive applications including autonomous vehicles.

Over the next five years, the automotive market is expected to become the largest consumer of semiconductor devices – surpassing 5G communications and high-performance computing, today’s leading market drivers. Many analysts anticipate that the automotive segment will have a year-over-year growth rate of 20 percent to 25 percent, reaching as high as $100 billion by 2026. A key contributor to that growth is escalating demand for NVMe BGA SSD devices, which are crucial in advanced driver-assistance systems (ADAS). To develop and economically mass produce these key NAND Flash SSD devices, memory manufacturers worldwide need a highly reliable, cost-efficient test solution.

Designed to perform system-level testing of NVMe BGA SSDs, the T5851-STM16G tester is ideally suited for evaluating any generation of BGA SSDs in either an engineering environment or a high-volume production site. The highly versatile platform can handle devices with multiple protocols, including NVMe, UFS and PCIe, at speeds up to 16 Gbps. The system’s modular, tester-per-DUT architecture supports test flows required for system-level testing of up to 768 devices simultaneously. These performance features help users get their newest memory designs to market faster.

In addition, FutureSuite™ software ensures that the tester can be easily integrated with all other members of the T5800 product family to minimize learning curves.

“We are proud to collaborate with our customer and strategic partner in developing NVMe system-level test technology for the fast-growing automotive electronics market,” said Masayuki Suzuki, Advantest’s executive vice president of the Memory Test Business Unit. “This effort is just the latest example of our commitment to expand and integrate our test and measurement solutions throughout the entire semiconductor value chain.”

Advantest is now taking orders for the T5851-STM16G tester. It is available either as a new tester from Advantest’s factory or as a cost-effective enhancement to users’ existing T5851 or even T583X units.