Mixed-signal ATE technology and its impact on today's electronic system

Analog/Mixed-Signal test is usually thought of as a quality control step in the manufacture of electronic devices - largely to separate good devices from bad. In this paper, the case is made that analog/mixed-signal semiconductor test technology has been at the forefront of many of today's analog SOC design approaches. This is most likely quite opposite to what most engineers think about test. The reason is quite simple - analog test engineers are concerned with a multitude of design issues that span across many different engineering domains such as mechanical, electrical, electronic, firmware and software. Moreover, they have always been pressed to achieve accurate measurements in near minimum time. As a result, analog test engineers have always had their eye on the big picture and created test solutions decades ago that would rival any analog system platform today. This paper will take a look to the past and see how test technology has impacted present-day system approaches such as those used in data communications, general purpose analog signal processing, etc.