ECT redesigns 9098 PCB tester with new features for challenging densities

Citation

(2000), "ECT redesigns 9098 PCB tester with new features for challenging densities", Circuit World, Vol. 26 No. 4. https://doi.org/10.1108/cw.2000.21726dad.014

ECT redesigns 9098 PCB tester with new features for challenging densities

ECT redesigns 9098 PCB tester with new features for challenging densities

Keywords ECT, Testing, Printed circuit boards

As fabricators continue to shrink micro-vias and crowd integrated circuit layers, Everett Charles Technologies (ECT) has responded with a major redesign of its industry-leading Model 9098 bare-board test system. The new 9098 universal grid tester features a more powerful CPU and Windows NT1 operating system, ECT-exclusive intelligent software, flip-top control for top side fixture and system debug, numerous user enhancements, and twice the maximum grid density at 198,000 test points (Plate 2).

Plate 2 9098 PCB Tester from Everett Charles

The 9098 can outperform traditional double-density, double-sided testers and is ideal for advanced fine-pitch QFP, MCM, BGA and other chip-scale packages, as well as less demanding applications. Furthemore, individual sections of the grid may be electronicallly isolated, and isolation tests of single logic gates are possible with enhanced diagnostics.

The versatile tester takes full advantage of high-impact graphics On a higher-resolution LCD flat-panel monitor. Diagnostics allow the user to track performance down to a single grid point. User interaction is guided with dimensional task buttons, colorful visual overlays, pull-dgwn menus with language options, a probe-locator display, and zoom or drill-down views of multiple logic layers. Operational aids include user-defined log-on screens with selective access, IPC-board data, bar chart and spreadsheet presentations of job data, and new management tools including pager alerts and "repeat fault" reporting.

Ergonomic considerations are evident throughout the new 9098 configuration. The new flip-top design provides easy access for maintenance and allows fixture debug while it is on the machine. Probe cassettes, which hold Pogo1 pins, have been redesigned with quick-release locks for easy changeover. A custom QuickLatch^TM method of attaching customer fixtures is designed to control critical alignment, while LightTouch^TM OSHA-quality optical safety switches permit the operator to apply minimum force in repetitive motion tasks. The test area is open on three sides to handle array panels or oversized boards, and the user display features a touch screen that has been positioned on a swing arm.

This tester has a total available probing area of 25.6" 6 19.2" and offers a maximum of 198,000 test points per top and bottom grid platform. Two cassettes, one for topside probing and a second for below-board contacts, secure test probes in 70-mil grids with a special silicon interface. For optimal fine-pitch performance at grid densities finer than 70 millimeters, the company has recommended

For additional information, please contact Everett Charles Technologies. Tel: +1 (909) 625 9332; Fax: +1 (909) 625 9395: Web site: http://www.ectinfo.com