NI presents advanced semiconductor test system for engineers

NI Semiconductor Test System
NI announced the launch of a new semiconductor test system for engineers at global chipset makers.

The PXIe-4163 high-density source measure unit (SMU) provides six times more DC channel density than previous NI PXI SMUs for testing RF, MEMS, and mixed-signal and other analog semiconductor components.

NI said the newly launched PXIe-4163 SMU complements the new capabilities such as the Semiconductor Test System (STS) for throughput, performance at cost and footprint on the production floor — adopted by chip companies.

Global chipmakers will enjoy technology benefits as the new semiconductor testing delivers increased DC channel density for higher parallelism in multisite applications and lab-grade measurement quality in a production-ready form factor.

Engineers can use this combination to use the same instrumentation in the validation lab and the production floor, which reduces challenges with measurement correlation and shortens time to market.

Engineers can use the new PXIe-4163 SMU in either STS configurations or stand-alone PXI systems.

Eric Starkloff, NI executive vice president of sales and marketing, said: “Semiconductor test is a strategic focus for NI. We are extending the capabilities of our software platform and PXI, exemplified by our newest PXI SMU, to help chipmakers address their top challenges.”

Key product features

Up to 24 channels in a single PXI Express slot

+/- 24 V per channel

Up to 100 mA source/sink per channel

100 pA current sensitivity

Up to 100 kS/s sampling rate and update rate

SourceAdapt for minimizing overshoot and oscillations

Interactive configuration and debug software

Up to 408 high-precision SMU channels in a single PXI chassis (4U of rack space)

STS — based on the NI PXI platform — enables engineers to build smarter test systems. NI in a statement said that the new PXI platform includes 1 GHz-bandwidth vector signal transceivers, fA-class SMUs, TestStand commercial off-the-shelf test management software and more than 600 PXI products ranging from DC to mmWave.