319:). To make this possible, the test engineers enforce those labels location and are all readable and scannable, thus eliminating the need for a manual typing of information into the unit. Automatic placing of identification codes into the part during test and making them available for verification at later processing steps can help minimize these types of errors. Manual typing can introduce problems related to inaccurate information being programmed due to human errors. Also, without the test engineers input during PRD design phase, the hardware engineer in charge of designing of the silk-screen for the PCB may put those labels below some attachable board which will then later renders the labels useless (i.e. in a motherboard/daughterboard design and also a board that has a pluggable module, a label would be visible on the main board by itself but would be obstructed by the other boards that needs to be integrated). This information are often indicated in both PRD and MRD.
331:) process. This also includes making sure those components are available even after the units are returned by the customers for troubleshooting or repair. By following this guidelines, the team will eliminate unnecessary opening of the UUT just to access those components which may result in introducing errors into the unit (i.e. knocking off some capacitors or resistors when opening/sliding out the cover, dropping the tool inside the PCBA after opening, forgetting some other cables to reconnect before closing the unit for manufacturing process flow continuation, etc.).
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have failed 5 times before it passes which may relates to some timing issues of some components of the product like the CPU or oscillators for example. The cleaner the first passed yield data that the CM provides, the better quality the unit went through the assembly line. This means that the CM would be enticed to provide the final result as their first passed yield data instead so it will reflect their higher quality side.
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Verifying that the currently available test equipment is adequate for testing the proposed design. If new equipment is needed, budgetary concerns have been addressed and sufficient lead time exists for new equipment installation and verification. Also, new test equipment may require training for test
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Electrical specifications review - to make sure all we can drive the needed power into the board with any fixture needed in any of the process (ICT fixture needs to make sure it can supply the appropriate power to the board without external power supplies, the Burn-In and ESS chamber can provide the
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Because it is hard to find a test engineer who knows every aspect of testing methodology (from PCB tests like ICT, JTAG test, flying probe test, and X-Ray test to PCBA test which includes writing test automation from functional test to FQA test among others), companies usually outsource part of the
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Once the product yield is stable, usually 80%, the test engineer is responsible for advancing the product from engineering stages to initial production stages. During this period, the test engineer will monitor the production yield for a period of time, change the test program limits and even work
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Conflict of interest. Company needs to know every level of information that goes through the product line in order to monitor potential problems that would one day snowball. But CM doesn't provide this level of details, they only give out how many units passed or fail for the day. A unit could
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There is a small number of companies who prefer to outsource their test engineering work to their corresponding CM. In that case, the CM TEs will be in charge of providing the test automation solution, test fixture design, yield gathering plus the usual interactive and first level of defense for
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Often people take shortcuts to be able to deliver final products. Because of these shortcuts, the product's manufacturability and testability becomes complicated (inability to read and write information, creating deviation from the process, etc.) which impacts the manufacturing complexity of a
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In addition, yields will show if another process needs to be introduced (e.g., because processes already used cannot capture certain test errors). Yields can also decide if an existing test process can be trimmed down (step-wise or time-wise) or even eliminated. E.g., if the ESS errors can be
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In early stages, engineering, production yield fluctuates a lot. The manufacturing process is under debugging and optimising. Foundry engineers usually work with factories to drive the yield of the product. Most companies set specific yield targets for each process to hit the expected
519:) also provides a test engineer for their customers. The function of these test engineers varies depending on the level of support they provide for their customers: providing "interactive and first level of defense"-only support or providing partial or ground-up solutions.
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Because of their close involvement with the test line, they monitor the products going through the line and inspect the failed boards to decide if it really failed or if the failure was just caused by some improper test setup. Some examples of these false failures are:
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Skipped some test process. Some test process will configure the UUT to load some firmware or put it in some state (i.e. preparing it to run in burn-in mode) so when the test automation starts, whatever known state it is expecting will not be satisfied and thus
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Making sure the product has correct label specs and placement that would make it possible for the unit to be traceable and programmable. Implementing good label specs results in having correct information programmed correctly into the
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captured during the 3rd hour, test time can be cut down from a normal 24 hours down to maybe 4. Or if a process consistently yields 100% during a 15-month period, teams can get together and decide to eliminate that process at all.
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Making sure that all components needed to test the unit are added into the cost matrix of the final product. This components may include the UART/RS232 chips for talking to the UUT, Ethernet ports for upgrading the firmware,
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Board layout review - to make sure all labels and components are accessible. No components are near the edges, covers, movable parts, etc. that would result into higher probability of a components being knocked off the
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Making sure that all components required to test and debug the UUT, which includes the console/serial port, are all accessible from the early part of the manufacturing process up to the last part which is often the
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Overall, this drives manufacturing reliability and quality at the end of the line making sure that all units shipped out to customers are well tested, stressed, filtered out of any errors, and configured properly.
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By following the general rules above, test engineers minimize future surprises (like adding extra components, re-layout of the boards, etc.) which drives up costs and development delays of the final product.
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development of this missing test piece to their CM. For example, if none of the in-house TEs know much about ICT fixtures, they will ask their CM to develop the ICT test solutions for them instead.
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Test automation refers to the automation of the process to test a product through the use of machines. Depending on the product, the machines that we are referring to could mean a combination of
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group, a test engineer ensures that a product is designed for both testability and manufacturability. In other words, to make sure that the product can be readily tested and built.
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Forgot to connect the cable to talk to the UUT (or misplacing the cable or putting it loose). This will cause the test automation to time out for any response from the UUT.
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Time constraints. They only get handed out the specs of the product during late NPI stage. Because of this, test solutions are rushed and quality are often compromised.
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Test engineers can have different expertise, which depends on what test process they are more familiar with (although many test engineers have full familiarity from the
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Once the production yield is above 90%, the test engineer can turn on full production for this product, and will continue to monitor and improve production yield.
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Forgot to connect the loopback cables when testing a UUT with any networking interface (Ethernet/optical/etc ports). This will cause the traffic test to fail.
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Providing "interactive and first level-of-defense"-only support is the usual job of the CM TE. Here are some typical job functions for a CM test engineer:
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Analyzing if the infrastructure meets the requirements (from floor/line setup, network access to workstations and/or servers, operator manpower, etc.).
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required voltage and current to a number of fixtures and at the same time without modifying the chambers specs so it can mix with other products)
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Forgot to power up the unit right away when the test automation started. This will result to the same problem as the first item of this list.
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79:. Test engineers are also responsible for determining the best way a test can be performed in order to achieve adequate
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Diagnostics specifications review - to make sure command output formats are followed for simplification of whatever
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product. Because of this complexity, bottlenecks in the manufacturing and delivery schedule delays are introduced.
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Products' yield plays a very important part during their lifespan. There are usually three stages for a product,
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tools will be developed. Also, to make sure that the commands themselves are available to test all components.
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Getting tied up to a single CM. It is hard to find a CM that is willing to share information to another CM.
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Beneficial if the company itself doesn't have or cannot find any TE that matches the company's requirements.
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is a professional who determines how to create a process that would best test a particular product in
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Schematics review - to make sure all components and data/electrical paths are accessible and testable
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The following are some general rules to ensure testability and manufacturability of a product:
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Ideally, a test engineer's involvement with a product begins with the very early stages of the
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Skipped to implement some deviations that would require hardware/software changes to the UUT.
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With this in mind, test engineers always get involved in the following reviews as well:
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Reviewing test solutions with their partnering test engineers from the customer side.
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Defining what manufacturing test process is needed based from the product definition.
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147:). Some of the processes used in manufacturing where a test engineer is needed are:
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Cheaper cost. Especially if the CM resides in a country where labor is at minimum.
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Being able to manage, train and support operators who performs the actual testing.
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Following are some of the documents that the test engineers maintain or define:
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stage. Depending on the culture of the firm, these early stages could involve a
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and related disciplines, in order to assure that the product meets applicable
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Enforce test steps to be followed within specifications and correct timing.
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Of course, outsourcing test solutions to the CM has its pros and cons.
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Working with cross platform teams, hardware and software team
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CM TEs are seldom involved with product design stage/phase.
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The whole intention of automating the test is as follows:
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Getting familiar with the customer products' technology.
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Providing interactive and first level-of-defense support
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Test automation is a big part of a test engineer's job.
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and system level processes like board functional test (
83:. Often test engineers also serve as a liaison between
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Gathering information to feed back to their partners.
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Forgot to attach any other test fixture components.
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Manufacturing test requirement design specification
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with foundry engineer to further improve the yield.
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679:"Silicon Test and Yield Analysis - White Papers"
264:Early project involvement from design phase
102:
722:"Cost-Benefit Analysis of Test Automation"
543:Being able to debug and isolate problems.
449:Eliminate manual command and data inputs.
288:—some of the earliest work done during a
576:Providing partial or ground up solutions
506:
765:
286:Marketing Requirements Document (MRD)
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346:equipment operators and supervisors.
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758:International Test Conference (ITC)
282:Product Requirements Document (PRD)
223:Highly accelerated stress screening
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746:American Society of Test Engineers
491:Design for manufacturability (DFM)
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295:By working with or as part of the
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464:Defining standard test documents
167:(AXI) (also known as X-ray test)
20:
699:. Emasiamag.com. Archived from
598:Some of the disadvantages are:
478:Diagnostic design specification
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689:
671:
649:
430:Automatic Test Equipment (ATE)
290:new product introduction (NPI)
211:Environmental stress screening
35:format but may read better as
1:
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325:final quality audit/assurance
193:Electromagnetic compatibility
587:Some of the advantages are:
486:Design for testability (DFT)
217:Highly Accelerated Life Test
171:Automated optical inspection
7:
620:
257:Final quality audit process
10:
804:
748:- Professional association
455:Enforce test process flow.
165:Automated x-ray inspection
773:Electronics manufacturing
724:. StickyMinds. 2000-11-17
697:"中国电子制造 EMAsia-China.com"
501:Acceptance test procedure
452:Automate data gathering.
274:requirements engineering
234:Ongoing reliability test
103:Test engineer expertises
783:Engineering occupations
632:Reliability engineering
199:(Board) functional test
44:converting this article
752:Evaluation Engineering
667:on September 25, 2008.
788:Environmental testing
513:contract manufacturer
507:Contract manufacturer
309:unit under test (UUT)
111:level processes like
99:communities as well.
661:www.tcdmsecurity.com
397:initial production
311:(sometimes called
278:design engineering
272:process, i.e. the
270:engineering design
89:design engineering
46:, if appropriate.
657:"威尼斯欢乐娱人城2299-首页"
581:their customers.
387:Yield maintenance
317:device under test
177:Center of Gravity
141:system level test
93:sales engineering
65:
64:
795:
778:Hardware testing
754:- Trade magazine
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681:. Archived from
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663:. Archived from
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42:You can help by
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424:Test automation
401:full production
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380:test automation
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337:JTAG connectors
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240:Regression test
229:Insulation test
152:In-circuit test
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726:. Retrieved
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187:flying probe
157:Stand-alone
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137:burn-in test
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48:Editing help
30:
473:Test method
393:engineering
245:System test
225:(HASS) test
195:or EMI test
56:August 2023
767:Categories
728:2014-01-25
707:2014-01-25
643:References
259:(FQA) test
213:(ESS) test
183:Continuity
173:(AOI) test
627:Metrology
496:Test plan
399:(IP) and
251:Vibration
179:(CG) test
97:marketing
621:See also
201:(BFT/FT)
408:yields.
403:(FP).
205:Burn-in
371:board.
339:, etc.
219:(HALT)
119:, and
31:is in
562:fail.
236:(ORT)
154:(ICT)
123:) to
37:prose
284:and
253:test
247:(ST)
207:test
189:test
161:test
159:JTAG
125:PCBA
117:JTAG
95:and
33:list
329:FQA
315:or
313:DUT
297:NPI
185:or
135:),
131:or
129:BFT
121:AXI
113:ICT
109:PCB
769::
659:.
517:CM
511:A
434:IC
395:,
292:.
145:ST
139:,
133:FT
115:,
91:,
87:,
67:A
731:.
710:.
515:(
327:(
143:(
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54:(
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