BEAVERTON, OR--(Marketwire - Jun 16, 2011) - Cascade Microtech, Inc. (
The market for power transistors will continue to post healthy gains through 2014, according to IC Insights. Steady growth, combined with emerging energy standards and increasing power consumption and conservation efforts, demand additional performance capabilities. As such, pressure has been placed on device manufacturers to rapidly design and characterize new power devices to provide more efficiency. Power device characterization requires measuring performance across an entire operating region, often at hundreds of amperes and thousands of volts. High-performance requirements have created the need for innovations in curve tracer technology -- tools that have long been an industry standard for power device characterization, but that no longer meet today's stringent and higher-power characterization requirements.
The CT-3100/3200 Curve Tracers are designed specifically for measuring different types of high-power semiconductor devices such as SiC, GaN and/or IGBTs, super-junction MOSFETs, diodes and thyristors. Measurement productivity is enhanced by the built-in USB port and a LAN interface for remote control of the CT-3100/3200. Complementary to existing SMU-based instruments, the CT-3100/3200 Curve Tracers provide fast, accurate characterization up to 3,000 V, 400 A, 4,000 W peak power and support a leakage mode with cursor resolution of 1 pA. When used in combination with Cascade Microtech's Tesla probe system, design cycles can be significantly reduced from traditional package-level device characterization methods that require high-power devices be cut from wafers, packaged and returned for test in custom fixtures. On-wafer characterization methods reduce these lengthy measurement cycle times by eliminating the need for dicing and packaging steps. As a result, device developers can do more complete characterizations to improve quality and reduce time-to-yield.
"Integrated on-wafer measurement solutions for high-power device characterization will greatly help customers to speed up their design cycle. No longer do they need to send the wafer for dicing and bonding in the package before devices can be tested accurately. Measurements can now be made at the wafer level," said Misao Saito, president of Iwatsu Test Instruments Corporation. "We are happy to partner exclusively with Cascade Microtech, one of the world's leading experts at wafer-level probing, to ensure our power device customers have accurate test information and advanced test capability, to reduce development time and cost."
"We are pleased to now offer Iwatsu curve tracers which, when paired with our Tesla system, will deliver an-integrated measurement solution for power device characterization not previously offered in the market," said Michael Burger, president and CEO, Cascade Microtech, Inc. "Efficient on-wafer characterization shortens the design cycle, improves product quality and provides our customers with faster time-to-market."
About Cascade Microtech, Inc.
Cascade Microtech, Inc. (
About Iwatsu Test Instruments Corp.
Iwatsu Test Instruments Corp. (ITIC) is a leading manufacturer of various kinds of test equipment including oscilloscopes in Japan, and its products enjoy a high reputation in more than 50 countries for their superb performance. Their users include governmental bodies and research organizations. Tapping into its decades-long expertise, ITIC has recently expanded its product line to offer power electronics products such as curve tracers to serve the needs of the times. For more information about ITIC, please visit www.iti.iwatsu.co.jp/index_e.html.