Whether you are a network operator, semiconductor manufacturer, or device maker, you need to understand the importance of Semiconductor te...
Whether you are a network operator, semiconductor manufacturer, or device maker, you need to understand the importance of Semiconductor testing to deliver high-quality 5G products to your customers. With the advent of 5G technology, the need for accurate and efficient 5G semiconductor testing has become more crucial than before.
With new capabilities being added all the time, 5G technology is advancing at a tremendous speed. However, the efficacy is largely dependent on how effectively it is graded, accessed, and verified.
T&M (Electronic Test & Measurement) devices are extensively used in product development, research, production, prototyping, and field testing. Besides, the semiconductor automated testing equipment (ATE) is expected to be the utmost revenue source owing to :
- End-user demand
- Consumer's electronic technology advancement
- Market size.
In this article, we will discuss the emergence and the challenges of device testing.
The Emergence of 5G Network
Along with the growth of IoT, the requirement to meet the demand for internet services around mobile networks sparked the creation of 5G. With its high-capacity, low latency, and lightning-fast speeds, 5G is poised to transform everything including transformation, healthcare, education, and entertainment. It is a vast leap forward from other previous mobile networks and 4G.the download speed that 5G promises is up to 20 times faster than 4G. This allows us to have real-time interactions, stream videos, and download movies almost instantly.
Using previously understood frequency channels like the V band, these networks allow the transmission of massive data. The 5G network features multipoint connection via distributed MIMO. while connecting a single device to numerous sites, these might offer multiple MIMO streams concurrently, delivering up to 100 % download throughput. To do research and development on 5G technologies, network operators are partnering with testing businesses.
Challenges of Wideband 5G Device Test
To ensure the reliability of new chip designs, test engineers and designers working on wideband 5G devices need cost-effective, fast, and accurate test solutions. But they have to tackle some of the challenges including:
Engineers and researchers working on 5G devices have the challenges of distributing, creating, and generating 5G waveforms among their test benches and designs. They work with highly complex uplink and download signals having larger bandwidth than before. These include several resource allocations:
- Modulation and coding sets
- Demodulation
- Sounding
- phase-tracking information
- Single-carrier
- Contiguous and non-contiguous carrier aggregated information.
Instruments Should be Linear and Wideband, they Should Cost-effectively Cover a Large-scale Frequency Range:
To configure more test benches to market in a shorter time, engineers require cost-effective test equipment. These testing should support the following:
- High linearity
- Tight amplitude
- And phase accuracy over a large bandwidth
- Low-phase noise
- Extensive frequency coverage for multiband devices
- With other wireless standards, the ability to test for co-existence.
- Powerful modular, hardware, and software-based test and measurement branches to new test requirements.
High-volume Production Test Demands Efficient and Fast Scalability
New industry verticals and 5G applications will rapidly increase the number of 5G devices and components that manufacturers require to produce each year. They are challenged by the requirement to provide swift ways the several antenna configurations and RF paths of new devices. Besides, they need to accelerate the OTA solutions for repetitive and reliable manufacturing test results. However, the traditional RF chambers can take up much of the disruption material handling flows, production floor space, and multiple capital expenses, for volume production of RFICs.
Conclusion
5G semiconductor testing, 5G ATE, is an important aspect of ensuring the performance and reliability of a wideband of 5G devices. The testing process incorporates a series of rigorous measurements and tests to verify the functionality and quality of the semiconductors used in the device.
However, testing wideband testing devices comes with its challenges. With the right technology, expertise, and innovation the industry can overcome these challenges, unlocking the full potential of 5G technology.
