The Study And Implementation Of The System Software On The IC Tester-GPIB (IEEE 488) Bus

Current IC finale test is executed with the Automatic Test Equipment (ATE). To achieve high performance and low cost, the manufactory will take the parallel test in the normal production. In the parallel test, the communication between the ATE is realized with the system software.To fully use the production capacity of the equipment, it requires the stable communication. In the parallel test, the communication is realized with GPIB (IEEE 488) protocol.This topic focus on the problem that met when setup the new type PinScale tester from Agilent Corp, improve the system software. To acquire high work frequency, the workstation of the PinScale tester use Linux as O/S and use the Lan-to-GPIB controller instead of the internal GPIB card. We study the Interrupt Mode and the Spoll Mode in the GPIB communication., realize the combination of the Interrupt Mode and the Spoll Mode and improve the interrupt handle process. This make the PinScale tester achieve the high and stable performance, so the new production can be hook up properly and delivery the good units to the customer in time.