Mitsubishi Semiconductor America, Inc.

Mitsubishi Electric and Electronics U.s.a., Inc.

Jay Klinck

In automatic test equipment (ATE), the current state of all configurable hardware components is maintained in one or more status registers. A configuration interface operates between the ATE test program and the hardware components. The test program issues instructions for configuring the hardware components to the configuration interface, which considers the current configuration status of each hardware component stored in the status registers. When a hardware component is instructed to assume a specific configuration for a given task, the configuration interface compares the target configuration with the current configuration status and forwards the instruction only if they are different, i.e., if the current hardware configuration must be updated. The associated wait times for instructions issued where the target configuration matches the current configuration status are avoided, decreasing setup time.

Method and apparatus for decreasing automatic test equipment setup time

A buffer with drive characteristics controllable by software includes a plurality of MOSFETs connected in parallel between input and output terminals of the buffer. The drains of the MOSFETs are coupled to the output terminal, whereas the gates of the MOSFETs are connected through logic gate circuits to the input terminal and to corresponding registers of a programmable controller. The gates of the MOSFETs go high or low in order to turn the MOSFETs on and off in accordance with a preset program loaded by an external programming device. The number of MOSFETs turned on is a determining factor for the strength and rise time of the signals formed by the buffer.

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Durham, NC, United States of America

Jay Klinck