|
Written by Mike Buetow
|
|
Thursday, 15 January 2009 06:03 |
|
MOUNTAIN VIEW, CA -- Sales of automatic test equipment for PCBs topped $1.16 billion in 2007 and are expected to reach $1.85 billion in
2014, up 60% over the forecast period, according to a Frost and Sullivan
report.
The research firm says its findings show greater use of combination
testers because of the versatility of this approach when applied to
high density circuit boards and components. Manufacturers using a
combination of methods can optimize yields. The combination of
functional testing and boundary scan testing has become popular in
spite of high equipment cost because it can reduce the overall cost of
testing.
“In today's electronic industry, it is highly
imperative to have sufficient test coverage to improve product quality,
reduce time-to-market and improve manufacturing yields,” says Frost
research analyst Sujan Sami. “Especially in a situation
where device complexity, functionality of chips and circuit board
architectures are on a rise; cost-effective and efficient test
solutions will be the key, and the right combinational testers expect
to play a major role.
“The need for more sophisticated
products, especially in the extremely demanding automotive and medical
industries drives the need for better quality oriented test equipment. The modular functionality of integrating various types of
test equipment expects to surpass the need for individual hardware and
software testing moving forward.”
|
