Apex roundup

Rick Nelson, Executive Editor -- Test & Measurement World, 3/1/2004

News about data I/O and motion-controller boards, design-for-manufacture software, device programmers, and laser trimmers emerged at Apex (Anaheim, CA, February 24-26, 2004).

National Instruments (www.ni.com) demonstrated its first PCI Express test-and-measurement product, which it had introduced February 17 at an Intel Developer Forum event. The new PCI Express/GPIB will allow engineers to employ the PCI Express bus (which provides three to twenty or more times the  bandwidth of the PCI bus) to control IEEE 444-compatible instruments.

The company also demonstrated its new suite of PCI-based 100-Msample/s mixed-signal instruments. The suite includes 100- and 50-MHz digital waveform generator/analyzers (PCI-6552 and PCI-6551); a 100-Msample/s, 16-bit arbitrary waveform generator (PCI-5421); and a 100-Msample/s 14-bit digitizer (PCI-5122). The new instruments extend the capabilities of its PXI mixed-signal suite, introduced in August 2003, to standard desktop PCs. Prices range from $4995 to $6995.

The company also announced new PCI-6528 and CompactPCI-6528 isolated digital I/O devices and the PCI-6624 counter/timer board. The I/O devices provide channel-to-channel isolation up to 60 V. The counter/timer board features a 48-VDC range. The I/O devices and the counter/timer all support  5-V logic levels. They are also software-configurable (requiring no jumpers) and work with the company’s NI-DAQmx software. Prices start at $995.

New motion controllers for servo systems and DIAdem 9.0 software rounded out the National Instrument exhibit. The new controllers—PXI-7352, PXI-7354, and PXI-7356—offer 2-, 4-, and 6-axis performance, complementing the company’s original 8-axis PXI-7358. Prices start at $1795. DIAdem 9.0 provides a unified environment for transforming test data. It imports data from a variety of industry-standard file formats and can handle more than 1 billion data points. Price starts at $995.

Tecnomatix (www.tecnomatix.com) launched its eM-DFM Expert design-for-manufacture (DFM) software. The package provides fully automated DFM analysis, comparing product design with manufacturing process constraints. It performs more than 300 design-for-assembly (DFA) and DFT rule checks.
 
Data I/O (www.data-io.com) announced a FlashCORE system upgrade that removes barriers to high-density flash device programming as manufacturers increase densities and introduce stacked packages that include RAM, logic, or multiple flash devices in one package, each requiring a programming operation during manufacturing.

The high-density enhancements (available as upgrades to existing systems) include an enhanced FlashCORE memory board; FlashCORE Firmware version 5.05 (which provides memory management for FlashCORE programming systems and introduces cyclical redundancy check (CRC) security code); and a feature upgrade to version 5.2 TaskLink for Windows software interface tool.

Data I/O also demonstrated its ProLINE-RoadRunner in-line programming system, an automated in-line programming feeder that targets high-volume users of high-density flash memory devices and microcontrollers, including cellular phone, automotive, and consumer electronics manufacturers. The RoadRunner removes devices from tape, programs two to four devices in parallel, and then delivers the programmed parts to a pick-and-place machine.

Electro Scientific Industries (www.esi.com) was on hand to announce that Analog Devices (www.analog.com) has purchased ESI’s new Model 2100 thin-film-on-silicon laser-trimming system. The prober-independent, tester independent Model 2100 offers multiple wavelength options, including a patented 1.3-micron diode-pumped laser option, which can minimize laser-induced opto-electronic responses to increase yield and throughput.