Teradyne announced that GuideTech has released a new FLEX test system open architecture instrument under the OpenFLEX initiative. GuideTech and Teradyne teamed to develop a fully integrated high-speed time measurement solution for a major semiconductor manufacturer's test requirements. The solution integrates GuideTech's FEMTO 2000 multi-channel time measurement unit (TMU) into the Teradyne FLEX with full instrument control through FLEX IG-XL software. The new instrument solution, originally developed for the specific customer requirement, is now available for all FLEX customers.
"The FEMTO family of products is the solution of choice for critical timing tests," said Gary Conley, Chief Operating Officer, GuideTech. "The synergy between Teradyne and GuideTech enables the integration of our breakthrough technology into the world class OpenFLEX architecture. Timing is everything in semiconductor manufacturing, and we will continue our development of cost effective solutions, offering high performance with unprecedented throughput for the FLEX open architecture."
"The collaborative effort between GuideTech and Teradyne demonstrates the value of the OpenFLEX program. This is a text-book case of how to quickly provide an integrated solution for a specific customer requirement," said Mark Kohalmy, OpenFLEX Business Development Manager. "What's unique about this solution is that access to the FEMTO is natively available from within IG-XL. The key issue for any open architecture, in the ATE industry or anywhere else, is whether or not you can integrate into the operating system. GuideTech developed the software that was integrated directly into IG-XL giving full access to the FEMTO from within the customer's test program. This is the standard for all OpenFLEX instrumentation."
OpenFLEX leverages the open system architecture of Teradyne's FLEX test system. Launched in May 2002, it is the first such initiative within the ATE industry. OpenFLEX provides the commercial and technical infrastructure to facilitate the development and implementation of collaborative test solutions between Teradyne's customers and third party instrument suppliers. These focused instruments complement Teradyne's FLEX instrument suite, enabling customers to enhance the performance and economics of the FLEX system.
GuideTech makes precision timing instruments. Based on true TIA technology (time interval analyzer), GuideTech provides test solutions from device characterization for jitter and critical timing signals to critical timing test in production. GuideTech Femto family of products enhances the performance of any ATE platform, providing the highest throughput by combining fast measurement rates with multiple measurement channels in parallel. GuideTech has over a thousand timing instruments installed worldwide supporting customers in production.
Teradyne is the world's largest supplier of Automatic Test Equipment, and a leading supplier of interconnection systems. The company's products deliver competitive advantage to the world's leading semiconductor, electronics, automotive and network systems companies.