Method of defining guards in operating automatic test equipment

Details Method of defining guards in operating automatic test equipment Method of defining guards in operating automatic test equipment

G - Physics

01

R

356/2, 324/58.1

G01R 31/28 (2006.01)

Patent

CA 1244963

ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE This invention relates to methods for operating auto- matic test equipment (ATE) for printing circuit boards (pcbs), and in particular to a method of providing guarding during mea- surements made by such equipment on the components of circuits on such boards. In testing pcb components connection is made, by activation of a selection of an array of probes, to circuit nodes surrounding a component to be tested. By applying input signals to some nodes and extracting outputs at others, the performance of a component may be examined in relation to that expected to see if it is sound or faulty. In some circuits the performance of a component may not be as expected, even though it is sound, due to the influence of surrounding components. In this case, it is known to place guards, i.e. to apply further signals via probes to further nodes, so that such disruption may be minimized and a measurement obtained consistent with a sound component. An ATE with an automatically generated test routine is seldom able to be used without modification, and the final step involves an operator who, running the program on a known to be good board, identifies which sound components are being failed and modifies the program until known good boards pass consistently. According to the present invention a method for defining guards during the operation of an ATE so that a selected component of a circuit may be tested includes the steps of: establishing a measurement of the selected component, identifying a circuit node associated with the selected component, applying a guard to the node, establishing a measurement with the selected guard in place and, should the guard result in an improvement, retaining the guard during subsequent automatic testing.

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