The STS 5020 mixed-signal test system is the new Smart Choice for testing an emerging generation of VLSI ICs from telecommunications and interfacing devices to high-fidelity audio products. In addition to the features needed for complex mixed-signal testing, the STS 5020 offers true asynchronous testing in both the analog and digital domains. Fully compatible with other members of the STS mixed-signal test system family, the STS 5020 is ideal for production testing of a variety of complex ICs.

Today’s communication ICs can carry high speed traffic over low bandwidth telephone lines, but many work with asynchronous interfaces, which few IC testers can adequately emulate. The STS 5020 elegantly addresses this issue by offering two completely independent subsystems of analog and digital instruments.

Each subsystem provides fully coherent analog and digital signals. You can run the subsystems at totally unrelated clock and data rates or operate them together in a fully synchronous mode. With the STS 5020, you get the resources you need to perform a wide range of tests – even those difficult tests on asynchronous-device data sheets!

The STS 5020 slashes the time needed to get new devices to market by simplifying the test engineer’s two most time-consuming tasks: fixture development and program debugging.

To speed test-fixture development, the STS 5020 incorporates a unique Programmable Test Head (PTH). You configure the PTH with plug-in modules that provide all of the functions normally needed for mixed-signal testing. This flexibility dramatically reduces fixture complexity and the time needed for design, assembly, and debugging.

Program debugging time is also greatly reduced by the windowing and graphical capabilities of the Linux Operating System. Analog Wavetool™ and Digital Wavetool™, ATS’s newest graphical tools, set a new performance standard for the creation, manipulation, and graphical display of complex analog waveforms and digital patterns.

The STS 5020 Layered Focus Architecture brings the benefits of enhanced accuracy and flexibility to every application. Three distinct hardware layers (mainframe, Programmable Test Head, and fixture) allow you to place circuitry in optimal locations for high accuracy and noise immunity. Many PTH modules serve as "front ends" for mainframe instruments, for example, providing signal conditioning very close to the test socket.

Each of these hardware layers can be further divided into standard and custom layers. ATS’s large catalog of standard instruments and modules allows you to configure each system to meet your specific requirements. As new requirements emerge, you can respond quickly by taking advantage of the custom layer while new standard instruments are being designed.