Fault-based alternate test of RF components

Abstract

Defect-based RF testing is a strong candidate for providing the best solution in terms of ATE complexity and cost. However, specification-based testing is still the norm for analog/RF because of the limitations of analog fault models. Unfortunately, as the amount of functionality packed into individual devices is increased with each generation, the cost of testing larger numbers of specifications also increases. To address this, the alternate test methodology proposed in the past, which significantly cuts costs associated with specification tests by crafting a single test stimulus and mapping the response signatures into all specifications at once, can be modified for defect-based testing as well. In this work, we explore a new type of alternate test that is more fundamental than defect-based or specification-based approaches. Rather than focusing on physical defect mechanisms or the way individual specifications are measured, fault-based alternate test studies the abstractions of physical phenomena that cause specification violations; it unifies the benefits of reduced ATE complexity of defect-based approaches and the compact stimulus-signature pairs of specification-based alternate tests.