Test & Measurement

Getting electronic device designers to embrace incorporating boundary-scan techniques into the silicon that they create has always been met with considerable resistance. Designers insisted that the (largely undocumented) cost, real estate, and time-to-market implications of taking this extra step defy justification. Two decades later, iNEMI is exploring how to increase acceptance, and IEEE is debating 1149.7 intended to carry the principle into the latest technologies. How often do you implement boundary scan? What is the impact on the design cycle? How have your vendors reacted? Your designers? How does the new standard affect your current and future product plans?

The preceding article is a "sneak peek" from Test & Measurement, a newsletter from GlobalSpec. To stay up-to-date and informed on industry trends, products, and technologies, subscribe to Test & Measurement today.

When the European Union issued the Restriction of Hazardous Substances directive, they intended it to be a work-in-progress. It was to be a moving target, to be adjusted based on feedback from the businesses involved, regulators, and other interested parties. But modifying the directive is proving more complicated than its designers intended. What has been your experience with RoHS? Has your company been constrained? Penalized? Have you changed your target markets or product mixes because of the regulations? If you had the clout, how would you change it?

The preceding article is a "sneak peek" from Test & Measurement, a newsletter from GlobalSpec. To stay up-to-date and informed on industry trends, products, and technologies, subscribe to Test & Measurement today.

Asking another company to build your products requires a considerable amount of trust. Their versions of your products have to conform to your design specifications. The contractor has to deliver them on time and within budget — and they have to work. Verifying processes and testing products is not enough. You have to explore the culture of the contractor to be sure that their goals and priorities match your own. So, how do you search for a partner? Do you select different contractors for different products? How do you make that decision? Has your outsourcing experience affected the way that you look for and manage your contractors?

The preceding article is a "sneak peek" from Test & Measurement, a newsletter from GlobalSpec. To stay up-to-date and informed on industry trends, products, and technologies, subscribe to Test & Measurement today.

Test and inspection have to identify ever smaller differences between passing and failing products. Although self-evident in electronic circuits, this trend also dramatically limits the acceptable level of contaminants or pollutants in any environment, impurities in materials, sensitivity to changes in temperature and other environmental conditions, and so on. How will test techniques keep pace with greater demands from products today and on the drawing board? Can existing tools continue to provide solutions? Will we need refinements of existing techniques? Entirely new methods that we currently can't even envision? A return to W. Edwards Deming's original goal of controlling at the process level? How is your company facing this inevitable challenge?

The preceding article is a "sneak peek" from Test & Measurement, a newsletter from GlobalSpec. To stay up-to-date and informed on industry trends, products, and technologies, subscribe to Test & Measurement today.

The merger of Credence and LTX narrows the choice when selecting semiconductor test equipment. The availability of choice encourages each of the participants in a particular product area to perform at their best and to provide the best possible value to customers. How will this merger affect your test strategy? Will the loss reduce your strategy's chances of success? How will it limit your options for testing particular products? What "outside the box" solutions are you willing or able to consider?

The preceding article is a "sneak peek" from Test & Measurement, a newsletter from GlobalSpec. To stay up-to-date and informed on industry trends, products, and technologies, subscribe to Test & Measurement today.