By Graham K. Rogers

With the greater demand for smartphones, particularly at the low end, manufacturing in China and other countries has surged, creating a need for equipment used in the development of integrated circuits (IC).

One item of equipment is the IC test handler that is used with other equipment as part of the test and inspection processes that need to be carried out.

Epson's latest evolution of equipment specifically designed for the transport, testing and sorting of chips (ICs), the NS8040SH, has recently been announced, superseding the NS8040. The company is now accepting orders.

The NS8040SH is configured with a number of robots synchronized with advanced control units. One of its features is the Smart Motion Control system, developed by Epson allowing small ICs to be handled at high speeds with a high level of reliability.

This has been achieved by an increase to 1200 Newtons of the contact force when connecting ICs to text sockets: this allows the better handling of ICs with higher numbers of pins. In addition, the variety of test modes has been increased, with options for more.

More information on Epson IC test handlers is available on Epson's Products and Drivers pages

Graham K. Rogers teaches at the Faculty of Engineering, Mahidol University in Thailand where he is also Assistant Dean. He wrote in the Bangkok Post, Database supplement on IT subjects. For the last seven years of Database he wrote a column on Apple and Macs. He is now continuing that in the Bangkok Post supplement, Life.