Open Architecture ATE: Prospects and Problems

Is open architecture for ATE useful? Is it necessary? Is it feasible? When open architecture was first proposed it was greeted with enthusiasm, skepticism, turmoil, yawns. All of these were well deserved, because the concept was poorly defined and equally poorly executed. This resulted mainly from a basic misperception of the nature of the opportunity, coupled with cost reduction and value enhancement. Open architecture platforms generally limit long-term prospects by imposing platform-level architectural features such as DUT board interface definition and synchronization, and that constrain instrument mixes by slot and DUT fixturing assignments. This seriously limits one of the key anticipated advantages of OA-ATE, the reconfigurability/retooling cost savings. High volume production is the best way to cut the cost of complex items. The current OA-ATE trend does not facilitate this well.