Using Cascading Match-Mode to Increase Efficiency of Production Test

The desire to increase the efficiency of production test can result in complications in the test development process. For example, a frequently used technique for increasing production test throughput is parallel, or multi-site test, where multiple devices are tested simultaneously. Although highly effective, this technique may be difficult or impossible to implement on devices that behave asynchronously.

Some models of Automatic Test Equipment (ATE) have the ability to multithread the different Devices Under Test (DUTs) allowing the asynchronous behavior to play out independently for each DUT. For situations where this is not practical or the ATE is not capable, the technique known as cascading match-mode may be a comparable alternative.

Cascading match-mode allows multiple, asynchronous devices to be aligned with the ATE at the start of a test so that the remainder of the test can be performed in parallel across all devices.

This paper describes the method by which cascading match-mode may be used and discusses the advantages and disadvantages of the methodology.