Today, most electronic products contain a combination of integrated circuits (ICs). As technology continues to penetrate most aspects of daily life, semiconductor devices are playing a more important role in a growing number and variety of products. Consequently, the global semiconductor industry, while experiencing significant cyclical fluctuations in its growth rate, has exhibited strong overall growth over the past 30 years.
The design and manufacture of semiconductor devices is a complex and capital-intensive multi-step process. The process involves different types of equipment used to manufacture, assemble and test semiconductor devices. Semiconductor test equipment and services are a critical part of this complex design and manufacturing process and are utilized in each of the key design and manufacturing stages. Each of these ICs has electrical circuitry that requires validation or testing during and after the manufacturing process. The final usability of the IC is determined by testing.
The complete article is here.