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This article summarizes recent feedback from experienced test and product engineers regarding how test developers can better support product and sustaining engineering teams during post-release debugging.

Once a product enters production, test engineers are often focused on the next next family of products, leaving limited bandwidth to assist with yield-related challenges on older products.

The insights below highlight practical ways to bridge that gap and strengthen collaboration across teams:

– Test names that make sense

– Good documentation for production programs including for power supply voltages used for each test, applied timing sets & for a functional test, the vector used for each test

– Bins should be consistent across products in a product family

– Make sure to datalog the first failing vector cycle when a functional test fails

– Test conditions read automatically and stored in the datalog where possible

– Good schematics for any boards or jigs

– Correlation (golden) units provided with gauge R&R results showing low standard deviation and results well within specification

– Additional boards and sockets/probe rings provided

– Run and review test stability results concurrently with the product and sustaining engineers for a full understanding of potential marginal or erroneous performance issues

– Interface hardware designed to withstand the rigors of volume production test

– Unique test numbers so as not to confuse a Yield Management System (or data analysis software), especially since some testers which generate STDF can generate non-unique test numbers, but that possibility can be more than likely eliminated by the test engineer

– Consider your continue / end on fail strategy especially when parallel testing, to generate information which could be useful for debug. There may be no measurable effect on test time in multi-unit test setups.