Simultaneous Testing Provides Breakthrough Throughput & Timely, Actionable Data
By Lisa Jones
For more than 30 years, CheckSum has been developing technologies to make board test more accurate, reliable and efficient. Its systems are well equipped to serve a wide variety of industries from the world’s most complex telecom boards to some of the smallest flex circuits in mobile devices.
Electronics manufacturers around the world trust CheckSum to test their products.
CheckSum provides a full-service solution including test systems, fixtures, programs and worldwide support. President & CEO John VanNewkirk said, “We take this responsibility seriously and are working to earn that trust for the next 30 years.” With a business philosophy of “your success is our business,” the company’s technology provides manufacturers with instant functional test feedback to improve quality and parallel testing capabilities to maximize throughput and enable inline testing of panelized boards.
Operating in more than 40 countries, CheckSum products are supported by company employees as well as a network of representatives and distributors in all major electronics centers. Its engineers are available to help and have decades of experience. In 2019, CheckSum is implementing customer accounts where you can access resources, request service, ask a question and track projects in progress.
The company’s world-class customers come from numerous industries around the world including contract manufacturers (CMs & EMS), automotive, industrial, components, computer, communications, power supplies, lighting and medical. CheckSum is able to attract – and keep – such a broad customer base by providing quality, innovative, cost-efficient testing, programming and fixturing systems.
Speed is critical for automated PCB test lines because as boards get smaller, they are built in larger panels causing a massive bottleneck at functional test. The bottleneck creates inventory of untested boards that might require rework.
CheckSum’s parallel programming and functional testing capabilities are the fastest solutions in the industry and are optimized for automation. These functional test systems provide simultaneous testing and programming at a single high-throughput station, making them ideal solutions for nonstop 24/7 production lines. VanNewkirk added that CheckSum provides 300 percent faster board test and programming times than its competitors, making the company a true value-add partner.
These fast systems solve throughput challenges by using Multi-Core ICT, MultiWriterTM Flash Programming, Parallel Functional Test, in-line suitable for 24/7 production lines and fully scalable with flexible testing architecture. Capturing functional test information earlier in the line has a significant benefit: real-time feedback that allows manufacturers to pause production before more defective boards are produced.
MultiWriterTM is CheckSum’s on-board programming technology that was first developed 12 years ago. By programming an entire panel in parallel, the company can deliver the fastest possible programming solution to customers. “Now, after programming a billion chips and handling panels of 100-up+, CheckSum is recognized as the innovator in gang programming,” said VanNewkirk.
Next, the company developed MultiCore ICT. Simply put, CheckSum offers multiple V12 ICT modules operating in parallel, both in-line and non-inline, to test boards simultaneously. For high-volume manufacturers of panelized boards, MultiCore ICT continues to offer a major throughput advantage.
More recently, CheckSum introduced its newest development, Parallel Functional Test. Like MultiWriter, Parallel Functional Test has unlimited scalability architecture, testing a panel of 40 boards in the same time as testing one singulated board.
Fixturing Solutions. CheckSum is the only full-service in-circuit test equipment supplier that offers complete turnkey packages that are ready for production when they land on the receiving dock. The company can provide design and drilling for all CheckSum fixture types, full ICT test programming for CheckSum systems, custom fixturing for unique test requirements, direct engineer-to-engineer support for turnkey projects, design for test analysis and strain analysis. Additionally, it provides the following fixture options:
• Pneumatic fully automated in-line fixture system that automatically test up to 3,000 system connections
• Dual-level automated pneumatic fixture system
• Vacuum fixture system
• Mechanical advantage fixture system
• Benchtop pneumatic fixture system
In-System Programming Solutions eliminate the device programming bottleneck. CheckSum’s MultiWriterTM technology is used to program up to 384 serial flash devices in parallel. Capabilities include simultaneous Flash programming of up to 384 devices, device libraries for virtually every serial programmable device, security and data encryption to protect customers’ IPs, and
serial numbers, cal constants, and margin verify. These systems come standard with high-signal integrity via short wire lengths and galvanic isolation of power and programming signals per location. Additionally, programming, byte-by-byte verification, chip erase, blank checking, CRC verification and device locking are all supported.
CheckSum also has a reputation for being a sensor specialist because it provides an all-in-one solution optimized for sensor manufacturers. The company’s board test and programming solutions offer ICT + Flash + functional test at board level for increased throughput. Being able to test many boards in parallel is a critical capability for manufacturers looking to meet the increasing demand for sensors with as little rework as possible.
CheckSum’s three parallel testing solutions provides the unique opportunity for customers to maximize throughput and provide immediate feedback to line. However, success in parallel testing requires more than just a tester, it requires a partner. CheckSum is the only company offering tester, fixture, program and worldwide support.
For more information about CheckSum, LLC, contact Brian Nelson, General Manager, at brian.nelson@checksum.com or visit the company at 6120 195th St. NE, Arlington, WA 98223; 360-435-5510; Web site: www.checksum.com.