Agilent Technologies, Inc.

William Richard Lawrence

Durbin L Seidel

Bradley D Pace

David H Armstrong

The present invention is directed to a method and apparatus for testing integrated circuit package devices using automatic testing equipment. The automatic testing equipment may be provided with a light source to enable the testing of image capture type integrated circuit devices. Alternatively, the automatic testing equipment may be provided with an imaging device, e.g., a camera, or both an imaging device and a light source to additionally enable the testing of display type integrated circuit devices.

Method for testing integrated circuit devices

Apparatus and method for testing integrated circuit devices

The present invention provides a method and apparatus for detecting defects in a display. The apparatus of the present invention comprises a camera for capturing an image of a display being inspected and processing circuitry, such as, for example, a microprocessor or a digital signal processor (DSP), for processing the captured image to determine whether or not the display being inspected is defective. Preferably, the processing circuitry is a microprocessor running image processing software which controls data acquisition as well as the processing of the acquired data to determine whether the display being inspected is defective. In accordance with the present invention, a relatively high resolution display can be inspected using a single camera, preferably a charge-coupled device (CCD) camera, which has a lower resolution than the display being inspected. The camera is focused on the display such that the entire display is within the field of view of the camera. The camera then captures an image of the display, digitizes the image and stores the digitized image in a memory device which is in communication with the processing circuitry. The processing circuitry then reads the image data out of memory and averages all of the image data to obtain an average value corresponding to the brightness of the display. Once this average value has been obtained, the processing circuitry performs various processes with the image data and with the average value to determine whether the display being inspected is defective.

Method and apparatus for inspecting a display using a relatively low-resolution camera

An apparatus and method are provided for testing component tolerances of a device for testing integrated circuits. The testing device is generally characterized by a plurality of test connectors disposed at a test head, wherein each test connector carries electrical signals for a test channel. Further, each test channel generally corresponds to a circuit board that includes at least one driver and one receiver. In this general type of tester, a system is provided that includes a specialized DUT board that establishes a low impedance electrical connection (i.e., short) between electrical conductors of a first and second test connector. Through this low impedance path, a first driver from a first circuit board is directly connected (i.e., shorted) to a first receiver on a second circuit board. A controller is configured to control the first driver to output an electrical signal at a predetermined time. The preferred embodiment further includes evaluating mechanism designed to detect the signal received at the first receiver, and timing mechanism configured to time the signal delay. Specifically, the timing mechanism is configured to determine the length of time required to propagate the signal from the driver to the receiver. In accordance with the method aspect, the method includes the step of establishing an electrical connection between electrical conductors of a first and second test connector such that a first driver from a first circuit board is electrically connected across a low impedance path to a first receiver on a second circuit board. The method then controls the output of the first driver to drive an edge of an electrical signal at a predetermined time and detecting the signal received at the first receiver. Finally, the method determines whether the signal received at the first receiver is within a predetermined time period of the predetermined signal level output from the first driver.

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Fort Collins, CO, United States of America

William Richard Lawrence