FREMONT, Calif., April 30, 2015 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Aehr Test Systems (Nasdaq:AEHR), a worldwide supplier of semiconductor test and burn-in equipment, today announced it has received an order from a new customer in China for immediate shipment of an ABTS burn-in and test system for high temperature operating life (HTOL) testing of devices for reliability characterization. The system is expected to ship within the next month.
Gayn Erickson, President and CEO of Aehr Test Systems, said, "We are very excited to announce this initial order from another new customer in China, which continues our expansion and success in the China market. Aehr Test has now been selected by eight customers in China to perform their HTOL and burn-in processes with our advanced ABTS burn-in and test platform. As China accelerates its growth in semiconductor manufacturing and test capacity, we look forward to continued expansion in this market."
According to a report by PwC, China's semiconductor consumption has increased from 18.5% of worldwide consumption in 2003 to more than 55.6% in 2013, representing a compound annual growth rate in semiconductor consumption of more than three times that of the worldwide rate. At the same time, China's semiconductor production continues to hold a relatively small share of the worldwide market, accounting for approximately 12% of the worldwide semiconductor industry in 2013. In June of 2014, the Chinese government announced new guidelines to promote development of the national IC industry intended to accelerate the pace at which China's IC industry catches up with international leaders. The guidelines include a focus on design and manufacturing, with great efforts made to boost IC packaging and testing capabilities.
High-temperature operating life (HTOL) is a reliability test applied to integrated circuits (ICs) to determine their intrinsic reliability in which the devices are subjected to temperatures as high as 150C for extended periods of time. In typical HTOL reliability tests, failure mechanisms are accelerated by burning-in the devices for 1,000 hours to confirm that the basic design and fabrication process of a device will meet the reliability targets over an extended period of normal use.
The ABTS family of products 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. It can test and burn-in both logic and memory devices, including resources for high pin-count devices and configurations for high-power and low-power applications. ABTS systems can be configured with up to 72 burn-in boards, up to 320 I/O channels, 32M of test vector memory per channel and up to 16 independent device power supplies. The ABTS system is optimized for use with the Sensata iSocket* Thermal Management Technology, which provides a scalable cost-effective solution using individual device temperature control for up to 64 devices per burn-in board and up to 75 watts per device or more. Individual temperature control enables high-power devices with a broad range of power dissipation to be burned-in simultaneously in a single burn-in chamber while maintaining a precise device temperature. The ABTS system also uses N+1 redundancy technology for many key components in the system to maximize system uptime.
*iSocket is a trademark of Sensata Technologies, Inc.
About Aehr Test Systems
Headquartered in Fremont, California, Aehr Test Systems is a worldwide provider of test systems for burning-in and testing logic 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 ABTSTM and FOX 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 and systems-on-a-chip. 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 Aehr Test's website at www.aehr.com.
Safe Harbor Statement
This press release contains certain forward-looking statements based on current expectations, forecasts and assumptions that involve risks and uncertainties. These statements are based on information available to Aehr Test as of the date hereof and actual results could differ materially from those stated or implied due to risks and uncertainties. Forward-looking statements include statements regarding Aehr Test's expectations, beliefs, intentions or strategies regarding the FOX products, including statements regarding future market opportunities and conditions, expected product shipment dates and customer orders or commitments. These risks and uncertainties include, without limitation, acceptance by customers of the FOX and WaferPak contactor technologies, acceptance by customers of the FOX system, WaferPak Aligner and WaferPak contactors shipped upon receipt of a purchase order and the ability of new products to meet customer needs or perform as described, as well as general market conditions, customer demand and acceptance of Aehr Test's products and Aehr Test's ability to execute on its business strategy. See Aehr Test's recent 10-K, 10-Q and other reports from time to time filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission for a more detailed description of the risks facing Aehr Test's business. Aehr Test disclaims any obligation to update information contained in any forward-looking statement to reflect events or circumstances occurring after the date of this press release.