FREMONT, Calif., March 06, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Aehr Test Systems (NASDAQ:AEHR) , a worldwide supplier of semiconductor test and burn-in equipment, today announced that it is introducing a new configuration of its FOX-XP™ Test and Burn-in system that includes its new highly parallel singulated die/module test interface technology at the 18^th annual Burn-in and Test Strategies (BiTS) Workshop taking place March 5-8, 2017 in Mesa, Arizona (Booth A28).

In addition, Aehr Test FOX Product Director Carl Kasinski will be presenting a technical paper at the conference on optical device burn-in testing at both the wafer and packaged part levels.

Aehr Test’s introduction of the FOX system for module burn-in follows the company’s announcement on February 21, 2017 that it received its first order for a complete FOX-XP production test cell for this new configuration. The order was in excess of $4.0 million and included a FOX-XP Test and Burn-in System, proprietary DiePak^® carriers to interface electrically and thermally to the customer’s modules in burn-in/test, and a DiePak Autoloader for loading the modules into the DiePak carriers.

“We are excited to introduce our new FOX-XP system for module test and burn-in and to showcase all our solutions for burn-in and testing at BiTS, which also include our FOX family of wafer-level systems and our ABTS™ family of packaged part burn-in and test systems,” said Gayn Erickson, President and CEO of Aehr Test Systems. “The new FOX-XP configuration for testing modules builds on all the learning and IP that Aehr Test has developed over almost 40 years in burn-in, parallel test, interfacing to packaged parts, and probing bare die and full wafers in a highly-parallel environment.”

The new FOX-XP system configuration is capable of testing and burning-in devices in singulated die or module level and adds to the full wafer test capabilities of this platform. This high power configuration is available with up to nine individual Blades that can each test up to 1,024 devices using Aehr Test's proprietary DiePak Carriers. Each DiePak Carrier can handle device power loads of up to 2,000 Watts of power, which provides a higher level of parallelism and power management for these types of devices than is available from any other supplier in the market. The production DiePak and WaferPak Carriers utilize proprietary technology for contacting devices in wafer form, singulated die, ultra-compact modules, or system level / module forms and can be designed to test thousands of devices with pad pitches as low as 200 microns apart.

Erickson continued, “As we have noted before, we believe the sensor and photonics markets will be a significant opportunity for Aehr Test, with a key market driver being the rapidly growing use of integrated optical devices in sensors, Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) and entertainment in the automotive market, which has substantially higher requirements for initial quality and long-term reliability. Other key growing markets for integrated optical devices are mobile devices, high-performance servers and data centers, where the use of optical devices for sensing and communications is increasing with every new product generation.  We believe that these are applications that are going to drive an entirely new level of quality and reliability expectation of hardware systems and pose a very interesting long-term opportunity for Aehr Test.”

BiTS is the preeminent event for what’s Now & Next in the test of pack­aged integrated circuits (ICs). The technical pro­gram and exhibition is dedicated to providing a forum for the latest in­for­mation on a broad range of test topics in­clud­ing final, wafer sort, and burn-in, and includes oppor­tu­ni­ties to meet, network, and explore ideas with other test professionals who are focused on test consumables, test cell integration, and test operations. Additional details on the conference can be found on the BiTS website, https://bitsworkshop.org.

In concert with the theme of the conference, Aehr Test is showcasing its solutions for burn-in and test systems to enhance the reliability of devices produced by semiconductor manufacturers. These solutions include:

• The ABTS^TM family of packaged part burn-in and test systems, which is based on a new hardware and software platform that is designed to address not only today’s devices, but also future devices for many years to come. This system can test and burn-in high pin-count devices and there are also configurations for both high-power and low-power applications.
   
• The FOX family of products, which includes multi-wafer test solutions that are capable of functional test and burn-in/cycling of flash memories, microcontrollers and other leading edge ICs in wafer form before they are assembled into multi-die stacked packages. The FOX systems utilize Aehr Test's FOX WaferPak contactor, which provides a cost effective solution for making electrical contact with a full wafer or substrate in a multi-wafer environment.
   
• The FOX-1P system, Aehr Test’s second generation of the single-wafer FOX-1 platform originally introduced in 2006, which has proven to be a cost saving high-volume production solution for single touchdown 300mm full-wafer parallel test. The new FOX-1P system can be configured with over 16,000 “Universal Channels” and features a massively parallel test interface, which enables testing over a thousand die in a single touchdown.
   
• The FOX-XP system, the company’s next-generation multi-wafer and now singulated die/module test solution that is capable of functional test and burn-in/cycling of flash memories, microcontrollers, sensors, and other leading-edge ICs in wafer form before they are assembled into single or multi-die stacked packages. The new configuration with the DiePak Carriers also enables burn-in of singulated die and multi-die modules to screen for defects in both the die and the module assembly process. These singulated known-good die or single-die or stacked-die packaged parts can then be used for high reliability and quality applications such as enterprise solid state drives, automotive devices, highly valuable mobile applications, and mission critical integrated circuits and sensors.

About Aehr Test Systems
Headquartered in Fremont, California, Aehr Test Systems is a worldwide provider of test systems for burning-in and testing logic, optical and memory integrated circuits and has an installed base of more than 2,500 systems worldwide. Increased quality and reliability needs of the Automotive and Mobility integrated circuit markets are driving additional test requirements, capacity needs and opportunities for Aehr Test products in package and wafer level test.  Aehr Test has developed and introduced several innovative products, including the ABTS and FOX^TM families of test and burn-in systems and the DiePak® carrier. The ABTS system is used in production and qualification testing of packaged parts for both low-power and high-power logic as well as all common types of memory devices. The FOX system is a full wafer contact test and burn-in system used for burn-in and functional test of complex devices, such as leading-edge memories, digital signal processors, microprocessors, microcontrollers, systems-on-a-chip and integrated optical devices. The DiePak carrier is a reusable, temporary package that enables IC manufacturers to perform cost-effective final test and burn-in of bare die. For more information, please visit the Company’s website at www.aehr.com.

Contacts:

Aehr Test Systems	
Carl Buck		
V.P. of Marketing	
(510) 623-9400 x381	
cbuck@aehr.com	

MKR Group Inc.
Todd Kehrli or Jim Byers
Analyst/Investor Contact 
(323) 468-2300
aehr@mkr-group.com