Aehr wins order from new customer for FOX-XP system for high-volume SiC device production test and burn-in

Aehr Test Systems of Fremont, CA, USA has received an initial order (worth over $3m) from a new customer for its FOX-XP wafer-level test and burn-in system and WaferPak contactors for production test and burn-in of a line of silicon carbide (SiC) devices. The FOX-XP system is configured to test 100% of the devices on 18 silicon carbide wafers in parallel. The new customer is a “leading supplier of semiconductor devices with a significant customer base in the automotive semiconductor market”. The order is expected to ship in Aehr’s next fiscal quarter.

“This new customer, a Fortune 500 semiconductor supplier company, has selected the unique high-voltage and high-power capabilities of our FOX-XP system to enable wafer-level production test and burn-in of their silicon carbide devices,” says president & CEO Gayn Erickson. “Our customers are able to save significant costs by burning-in entire wafers at a time versus the high costs associated with burning-in modules. Also, there are significant cost savings as a result of detecting burn-in yield losses at wafer level compared to yield losses detected at the more expensive module level,” he states.

“The higher defect density inherent in today’s silicon carbide devices presents an additional test and burn-in challenge to achieve the initial quality and long-term reliability needed by many industries and, in particular, the automotive market,” Erickson says. “This is a new and very exciting market opportunity for Aehr and our FOX-P family of products as our wafer-level test and burn-in systems are optimal for reliability qualification in the emerging silicon carbide device market that is expected to grow significantly.”

According to research reported by HiTech News in July, the advantages of silicon carbide based compound semiconductors over silicon-based technology, the rise in demand of power electronics modules across various industry verticals, the increase in installation of solar photovoltaic panels for electricity generation, and the surge in demand of electric vehicles, plug-in electric vehicles, and hybrid electric vehicles are the major factors driving the growth in the global silicon carbide power semiconductor market.

Future demand will be substantially driven by SiC power semiconductor applications in aerospace, automotive, energy and electronics (requiring a very high level of quality and reliability), forecasts a ‘Silicon Carbide Market Size, Share & Trend’ analysis published in July by Grand View Research.

The FOX-XP system is Aehr’s next-generation multi-wafer and singulated die/module test solution that is capable of functional test and burn-in/cycling of integrated photonics devices, flash memorie30 microcontrollers, sensors, power, and other leading-edge integrated circuits (ICs) in wafer form before they are assembled into single or heterogenous stacked packages. The system is designed for high-volume production and can be configured to test and burn in up to 18 wafers simultaneously. The resulting known-good die (KGD) can then be used for high-quality and reliability applications such as enterprise solid-state drives, automotive devices, highly valuable mobile applications, and mission-critical integrated circuits and sensors.

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Aehr launches FOX-CP wafer-level test & reliability screening system

Tags: Semiconductor test instrument

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