Aehr Test Announces New FOX-NP™ Test and Burn-in System

FREMONT, Calif., Jan. 10, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Aehr Test Systems (NASDAQ: AEHR), a worldwide supplier of semiconductor test and burn-in equipment, today announced its new FOX-NP Test and Burn-in System for wafers, panels, singulated die and modules. The FOX-NP system is a new configuration within the Company’s FOX-P ^TM product family that is a low cost, small footprint entry-level system providing a configuration and price point for companies to do initial product development, product qualification and production. The FOX-NP System will begin volume shipments early in Aehr Test’s fiscal fourth quarter ending May 31, 2019. Aehr Test will showcase the new FOX-NP system in Booth 4046 at the SPIE Photonics West conference at the Moscone Convention Center in San Francisco February 2-7, 2019.

The FOX-NP system is 100% compatible with the FOX-XP ^TM Test and Burn-in System. It uses the same blades as the FOX-XP system and is configurable with up to two blades, versus the FOX-XP high-volume production system that can be configured with up to 18 blades.

Gayn Erickson, President and CEO of Aehr Test Systems, commented, “The FOX-NP system provides a configuration and price point for companies to do initial product qualification and New Product Introduction, enabling an easier transition to the FOX-XP system for full production test. Multiple FOX-NP systems enable customers to run many wafers, panels, modules or die in parallel at different temperatures and burn-in test conditions as part of their development and qualification process. This allows customers to quickly evaluate wafers fabricated at completely different process variations and to perform production screening and life test in parallel cost-effectively. Since each FOX-NP system has its own thermal control system, multiple small FOX-NP chambers provide multiple independent thermal temperature environments.

“We believe that the new FOX-NP system will significantly expand the market for our FOX-P products. We have worked with multiple customers to define this new FOX-NP system, and we have already received a commitment from multiple customers to use the system for test and burn-in of their devices. We expect an order imminently from a new customer to use the FOX-NP system for test and burn-in of silicon photonics devices. The FOX-NP system is affordable and low risk for smaller companies or new applications where the initial volumes are low. It also opens up a new application for reliability screening requiring different temperatures. Although the wafer sample size for reliability qualification may be low, there are many unique wafer types, so a customer may use many FOX-NP systems.

“The rapid growth of integrated optical devices in 3D sensing in mobile devices, the 5G communications infrastructure, high-performance servers and data centers, automotive safety and driver assistance applications, and now wearable biosensor markets, is driving a rapidly expanding base of customers providing products for these applications. We believe these new applications are driving an entirely new level of quality and reliability expectation for products for these applications and pose a significant long-term growth opportunity for Aehr Test,” Erickson concluded.

Aehr Test’s FOX-P platform is the company’s next-generation multi-wafer and singulated die/module test solution that is capable of functional test and burn-in/cycling of photonics devices, flash memories, microcontrollers, sensors, and other leading-edge ICs before they are assembled into single or multi-die stacked packages. The FOX-P wafer-level systems utilize Aehr Test's FOX WaferPak ^TM contactors, which provide cost effective solutions for making electrical contact with a full wafer or substrate in a multi-wafer environment. The configuration with the DiePak ^® Carriers enables burn-in of singulated die and multi-die modules to screen for defects in both the die and the module assembly process. The resulting known-good die, single-die or stacked-die packaged parts can then be used for high reliability and quality applications such as enterprise solid state drives, automotive devices, highly valuable mobile applications, and mission critical integrated circuits and sensors.

The key features of the FOX-P platform that contribute to the cost-effectiveness of the solution include the ability to provide up to 2,048 “Universal Channels” per wafer or DiePak carrier, which allows the system to test all the devices on the wafer or DiePak carrier in parallel. The innovative “Universal Channel” architecture allows any channel to be any function (I/O, Device Power Supply (DPS) or Per-pin Precision Measurement Unit (PPMU)). This enhanced architecture now allows customers to perform per pin parametric testing, more extensive digital pattern test with deeper data stimulus / capture memory (32M per pin), and deeper scan (768M) optimized for BIST/DFT testing. A single FOX-XP test system may be configured with up to 18 blades of wafer test resources, enabling up to 18 wafers to be tested simultaneously. The footprint of the 18-wafer FOX-XP test system is similar to the footprint of typical semiconductor Automatic Test Equipment (ATE) that can only test one wafer at a time. The highly integrated 2-blade FOX-NP system has a very small footprint and is designed to be easily integrated into product design, reliability and test lab applications.

About Aehr Test Systems Headquartered in Fremont, California, Aehr Test Systems is a worldwide provider of test systems for burning-in and testing logic, optical and memory integrated circuits and has over 2,500 systems installed worldwide. Increased quality and reliability needs of the Automotive and Mobility integrated circuit markets are driving additional test requirements, incremental capacity needs, and new opportunities for Aehr Test products in package, wafer level, and singulated die/module level test. Aehr Test has developed and introduced several innovative products, including the ABTS™ and FOX-P families of test and burn-in systems and FOX WaferPak Aligner, FOX WaferPak Contactor, FOX DiePak Carrier and FOX DiePak Loader. The ABTS system is used in production and qualification testing of packaged parts for both lower power and higher power logic devices as well as all common types of memory devices. The FOX-XP and FOX-NP systems are full wafer contact and singulated die/module test and burn-in systems used for burn-in and functional test of complex devices, such as leading-edge memories, digital signal processors, microprocessors, microcontrollers, systems-on-a-chip, and integrated optical devices. The WaferPak Contactor contains a unique full wafer probe card capable of testing wafers up to 300mm that enables IC manufacturers to perform test and burn-in of full wafers and panels on Aehr Test FOX systems. The DiePak Carrier is a reusable, temporary package that enables IC manufacturers to perform cost-effective final test and burn-in of both bare die and modules. For more information, please visit Aehr Test Systems’ website at www.aehr.com .

Safe Harbor Statement This press release contains certain forward-looking statements based on current expectations, forecasts and assumptions that involve risks and uncertainties. These statements are based on information available to Aehr Test as of the date hereof and actual results could differ materially from those stated or implied due to risks and uncertainties. Forward-looking statements include statements regarding Aehr Test’s expectations, beliefs, intentions or strategies regarding its products, including statements regarding future market opportunities and conditions, expected product shipment dates and customer orders or commitments. These risks and uncertainties include, without limitation, customer demand and acceptance of Aehr Test’s products, the ability of new products to meet customer needs or perform as described, as well as general market conditions and Aehr Test’s ability to execute on its business strategy. See Aehr Test’s recent 10-K, 10-Q and other reports from time to time filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission for a more detailed description of the risks facing Aehr Test’s business. Aehr Test disclaims any obligation to update information contained in any forward-looking statement to reflect events or circumstances occurring after the date of this press release.