Aehr Test Systems (NASDAQ: AEHR), a worldwide supplier of semiconductor production test and reliability qualification equipment, today announced it has received purchase orders from a new customer for a FOX-NP multi-wafer test and burn-in system, multiple WaferPak Contactors and a FOX WaferPak Aligner to be used for qualification of their silicon carbide devices for electric vehicles. The order for WaferPaks from this customer was announced during Aehr’s earnings conference call last week. This company is a multibillion-dollar annual revenue global manufacturer of semiconductors that is currently supplying silicon based MOSFETs for the automotive industry.
This FOX system is configured for High Temperature Gate Bias (HTGB) and High Temperature Reverse Bias (HTRB) stress testing and burning in of silicon carbide devices on 150mm and 200mm wafers using Aehr’s proprietary WaferPak full wafer Contactors. The FOX system, WaferPaks, and WaferPak Aligner are scheduled to ship within the next six months.
Gayn Erickson, President and CEO of Aehr Test Systems, commented, “Our momentum in silicon carbide wafer level burn-in continues to increase, and we are very excited that this new customer has chosen Aehr’s FOX full wafer test and burn-in solution in a very short period of time. The company already has experience in power semiconductors and quickly understood the value proposition of being able to test and burn-in 100% of their devices at wafer level.
“Multiple forecasts are projecting tremendous growth in the silicon carbide market, and we are excited to also be attracting semiconductor companies who are relatively new to the silicon carbide market and see them recognize how our unique and cost-effective solutions can accelerate their time to market as they compete for market share.
“The FOX-NP system is a dual-wafer system that is fully compatible with the volume production FOX-XP, which can be configured with up to nine or eighteen wafers depending on the customer’s specific test requirements and power configuration. This allows our customers to bring up initial production for customer qualifications as well as maintain 100% compatibility of systems, WaferPaks, test programs, and results between both new product introduction systems and volume production systems at facilities located around the world.
“Aehr is ramping our production capacity for both systems and full wafer WaferPak Contactors to meet the anticipated demand we see for several market applications, and particularly for the enormous growth projected in silicon carbide power MOSFETs to meet the needs of the traction power inverter that drives electric vehicle engines as well as the on-board and off-board chargers for electric vehicles. These applications require an extremely high level of quality and reliability and, due to the higher than acceptable extrinsic or early failure rates of silicon carbide devices used in power conversion, the industry widely acknowledges the need for 100% burn-in of these devices before they are used in electric vehicles. Customers use Aehr’s FOX multi-wafer systems to test and burn-in their devices at elevated temperatures and voltage biases for up to 24 hours or more per wafer to remove weak devices that otherwise would fail in the end use application. Failure of the power inverters in an electric vehicle can create what we call a ‘walk home event,’ which is where upon certain device failures, the passengers and driver of the electric vehicle may be forced to get out of the vehicle and walk home.
“The FOX family of compatible systems including the FOX-NP and FOX-XP multi-wafer test and burn in systems and Aehr’s proprietary WaferPak full wafer Contactors provide a uniquely cost-effective solution for burning in multiple wafers of devices at a single time to remove early life failures of silicon carbide devices, which is critical to meeting the initial quality and long-term reliability the automotive, industrial, and electrification infrastructure industry needs.”
The FOX-XP and FOX-NP systems, available with multiple WaferPak Contactors (full wafer test) or multiple DiePakTM Carriers (singulated die/module test) configurations, are capable of functional test and burn-in/cycling of devices such as silicon carbide and gallium nitride power semiconductors, silicon photonics as well as other optical devices, 2D and 3D sensors, flash memories, magnetic sensors, microcontrollers, and other leading-edge ICs in either wafer form factor, before they are assembled into single or multi-die stacked packages, or in singulated die or module form factor.
