Latest NewsAehr Test Systems and NHK Spring Announce Development Agreement for Full-Wafer probe Contactors for Wafer-Level Burn-in System
Mountain View, CA-July 9, 1999 -- Aehr Test Systems (Nasdaq: AEHR) and NHK Spring Co., Ltd. today announced a development agreement to create full-wafer probe contactors for use in wafer-level burn-in and test systems. These systems, of which the contactors are an integral part, are expected to enable integrated circuit manufacturers to achieve significant cost savings by performing burn-in and parallel functional test of integrated circuits while still in wafer form. The burned-in wafer can then undergo final test and be diced for standard packaging, chip-scale packaging (CSP) or flip-chip applications.
Full-wafer burn-in and test requires technological developments in the burn-in and test system electronics, a full-wafer probe to contact all pads on all devices on the wafer simultaneously, thermal management of a full wafer of operating devices, alignment of the wafer under test to the probe, and automated handling of the wafer. With partial funding from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), Aehr Test is developing a system for burn-in and test of entire processed wafers.
"Our strategy to provide our customers with the most technologically advanced and cost-effective solutions will be greatly enhanced by this partnership with NHK," said Rhea Posedel, president of Aehr Test Systems. "The partnership with NHK is part of our effort to bring a complete solution to customers. As a leading supplier of miniature contactors, NHK will contribute its technical know-how with the aim to migrate the technology to the full-wafer level," Posedel added.
"The agreement with Aehr Test Systems represents a significant opportunity for NHK to extend the addressable market for its contactor technology to wafer-level burn-in," said Kenji Sasaki, executive vice president of NHK Spring. "We are pleased to work with Aehr Test Systems to facilitate the expansion of wafer-level burn-in and test by offering solutions to enable reliable and cost-effective wafer-level probe contactor capabilities."
Prototypes are available for customer demonstrations during Semicon West, July 14-16, 1999, and the two companies expect rollout of the product next year.
About Aehr Test Systems
Aehr Test Systems, headquartered in Mountain View, Calif., has been a leading provider of systems for burning-in and testing DRAMs and other integrated circuits since 1977, and has shipped over 2,000 systems worldwide. Aehr Test has developed and introduced two new innovative product families, the MTX system and DiePak® carrier. The MTX is a massively parallel test system designed to reduce the cost of memory testing by performing both test and burn-in on thousands of devices simultaneously. The DiePak carrier is a reusable, temporary package that enables integrated circuit manufacturers to perform cost-effective final test and burn-in of bare die.About NHK Spring
NHK Spring Co., Ltd., headquartered in Yokohama, Japan, is the world's leading spring manufacturer. Founded in 1939 as a spring specialist, NHK has developed miniature contactors, including the patent pending NHK Microcontactors. NHK Microcontactors are used in semiconductor wafer probe heads and in various test sockets, including those for AC/DC parametric test as well as burn-in.This release contains forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties relating to projections regarding timing of new product introduction and customer acceptance for Aehr Test's products. Actual results may vary from projected results. These risks and uncertainties include technological risks in design and development and the potential emergence of alternative technologies which could adversely affect demand for Aehr Test's products. See Aehr Test's 10-K and most recent 10-Q filed with the SEC for additional risks affecting the Company.