Teradyne teams for first double-sided silicon photonics wafer probe
Teradyne has teamed up with ficonTEC in Germany on the first high-volume, double-sided wafer probe test cell for silicon photonics as it acquires its own photonic startup.
Silicon photonics is an increasingly important area for high speed interconnect in AI data centres, but the hybrid double-sided wafers are a challenge to test. While this has not been an issue in small volumes, there is increasing demand for testing of hybrid bonded photonic and electrooptic bonded wafers in a production environment.
The Ficontec optical test cell integrates Teradyne’s UltraFLEXplus automated test equipment (ATE) and programming environment, IG-XL, with ficonTEC’s advanced optical alignment, probing, and wafer handling system.
Dual wafer test cell
The optical test cell (above) directly docks with the ATE at a core software and hardware level, enabling DC and high-data-rate test capability on the top side and precision optical six-axis active alignment probing below. It also accommodates automatic wafer loading and incorporates a patented vacuum thermal control chuck assembly, in-situ fibre array calibration, end-face inspection, high-speed probe calibration, and automated PIC mapping.
- Nvidia looks to silicon photonics to cut AI datacentre power
- Teradyne buys Infineon power semiconductor test team
- Teradyne buys collaborative robotics pioneer Universal Robotics
Several leading chip manufacturers and foundries are already adopting the test cell, prompting the integration with the Teradyne systems.
This enables testing of the bonded wafer to provide known good die (KDG) within an existing fab and OSAT test floor infrastructure. These KDG can then be co-packaged with silicon devices in 400G, 800G and 1.5T transceivers or even in AI accelerators.
The deal enables Teradyne to bring a production-ready system to market today, but Teradyne says it also wants to work with other suppliers for testing silicon photonics and co-packaged optics (CPO). Having UltraFLEXplus compatible with optical instrumentation, probers, alignment systems and probe cards can provide flexible testing for developers whatever their systems require.
” Our partnership with ficonTEC enables us to deliver the first high-volume double-sided test cell for silicon photonics wafer test to meet the quickly evolving needs of the industry. Our commitment to an open ecosystem ensures our customers can choose the solution that is right for them,” said Regan Mills, President, Product Test at Teradyne.
The introduction of the double-sided wafer probe test cell is expected to have a significant impact on the silicon photonics and CPO market. By enabling high-throughput electro-optical testing of silicon photonic wafers, this solution addresses the critical need for known good die testing before wafers are diced and packaged into CPO devices or pluggable transceivers.
Ficontec is also aiming to support all leading ATE manufacturers with open compatibility and is developing a single-sided wafer version as well as systems for die-level and module-level production test.
“Our joint effort uniquely combines the class-leading capability of both companies, delivering a high-throughput, cost-effective test solution for silicon photonics and CPO manufacturing workflows,” said Stefano Concezzi, Corporate Vice President at ficonTEC.
Teradyne is also acquiring Quantifi Photonics to boost its high volume photonic IC testing capabilities.
Quantifi Photonics also provides test systems high-volume manufacturing of photonic integrated circuits, co-packaged optics and pluggable optics. It has photonic test instruments and digital sampling oscilloscopes, available as benchtop or the industry-standard PXI format to support cost-effective, high-throughput design verification testing and high-volume manufacturing.
The deal is expected to close by June and will give Teradyne scalable photonic integrated circuit (PIC) test technology.
“The extraordinary growth and complexity driven by Cloud AI will require optical interconnect solutions to support the bandwidth and reduce the power required for next-generation networks,” said Teradyne CEO, Greg Smith, earlier this month. “We are thrilled to welcome the Quantifi Photonics team to Teradyne to accelerate the development of cost-effective, high-throughput test solutions for wafer-level, die/multi-die and co-packaged optical module testing.”
“By combining Quantifi Photonics’ deep expertise in photonic testing and Teradyne’s leadership in semiconductor ATE, we are uniquely positioned to revolutionize photonics high-volume manufacturing,” said Quantifi Photonics co-founder and CEO Iannick Monfils. “The silicon photonics market is at an inflection point that requires innovative, state-of-the-art solutions to unlock its full potential. By combining our strengths, Teradyne and Quantifi Photonics will provide customers with complete turn-key photonic test solutions that allow them to scale.”
www.teradyne.com; www.ficontec.com; quantifiphotonics.com
If you enjoyed this article, you will like the following ones: don't miss them by subscribing to :
