At a glance
| Booth | J2755 |
| Country | US |
| Website | www.johnstech.com |
Company profile
Johnstech International Corporation was founded in 1991 and describes itself as a global R&D leader in semiconductor testing, providing testing solutions for automotive, commercial, and industrial applications. The company works with OSATs, foundries, IDMs, and EDA companies to develop test contactors and sockets. Its portfolio includes turnkey and customizable test sockets for BGA, LGA, QFN, DFN, QFP, and WLCSP devices across automotive, commercial, industrial, consumer-electronics, telecommunications, and data-center applications. Its patented Short Contact® technology reduces electrical length between load boards and devices under test to improve accuracy and reliability, with applications including aerospace and medical devices. Headquartered in Minneapolis, MN, with a global presence, Johnstech offers services intended to accelerate time-to-market, reduce test costs, and increase yield; its YARI™ product line includes pitches down to 0.3mm and temperatures from -65°C to 175°C. The company states that it expanded manufacturing capabilities in response to the global chip shortage to shorten lead times and increase throughput, while a local supply chain and protective capacity supported continued production for customers worldwide. Its expertise covers wafer-level and packaged-device testing for applications from small-scale prototyping to high-volume production, with support from consultation through post-implementation assistance. The company lists ISO certification, RoHS compliance, quality and environmental policies, intellectual property, and seminar activities among its corporate programs. Johnstech states that Short Contact solutions average 100,000 insertions before maintenance is required and can extend contactor life to 1,000,000 insertions with maintainable contacts and elastomers, compared with traditional sockets maintained at about 10,000 insertions and replaced at 30,000 to 50,000 tests. Its configurable contactors are designed for both engineering characterization laboratories and production floors, in manual and automated testing environments, to reduce the need for device re-characterization. Using standard housings with contact number and pitch changes requiring little retooling, the company states that custom test contactors can be manufactured in four to eight weeks rather than the four to six months described for traditional processes, while avoiding $50,000 to $200,000 in one-time engineering expenses associated with some custom socket designs. Johnstech also states that it matches employee contributions to nonprofit organizations, makes corporate contributions to social and cultural organizations, supports internal recycling, and promotes an ergonomically correct work environment. Company history notes that semiconductor manufacturers were getting perhaps 10,000 tests from a contactor while seeking about ten times that mechanical life, and that re-screening was typically performed on 5-10 percent of integrated circuits with a 30-40 percent recovery rate. Its Short Contact® uses a specially plated, S-shaped short-rigid contact in place of wider, higher, less-rigid cantilever-style contacts, reducing effective electrical length and increasing bandwidth so guard bands can be reduced for higher production yields. Johnstech states that 20 to 30 percent of component cost can be attributed to testing and seeks to lower test cost by reducing re-screens and avoiding recalculation of device characterization from laboratory to production. For RF, microwave, and wireless IC devices, the company describes a 1mm contact that further shortens the effective electrical length between test electronics and the device under test.
Exhibits
For automotive testing, the company lists Audio & Infotainment, Vehicle Networking, Powertrain, and other automotive-device applications and emphasizes versatility, reliability, test yield, and production throughput. The Leaded ROL® 200KR2 XT Automotive Contactor is Xtreme Temperature capable and designed for tri-temperature test objectives; the company states that its robust design provides additional design margin even when testing stays within standard contactor and socket temperature limits. Across final test, Johnstech describes engineering support from characterization through production and patented wipe-action scrub mechanisms that break through solder oxides. Its configuration-dependent Product Performance Chart lists ROL 100A at 80%, ROL 200 at 37.5%, ROL 200 XT at 37.5%, ROL 200KR Force Contact at 24.5%, Edge 400A at 12.5%, and ROL 400 at 5%. XT™ Contactors are designed for stable tri-temperature testing and use proprietary housing and elastomer combinations approved for automotive device testing from -65°C to +175°C, while also being presented for other high- and low-temperature testing applications. The ES-P® series is for ESD-sensitive precision analog, mixed-signal, and RF applications, is proven to <100V, and is described as avoiding an increase in triboelectric charge in the test system. The single-ended Spring Probe is described as providing more consistent CRES than traditional pins, supporting floating alignment plates, with BGA Crown DUT and QFN/LGA Spear tips, pitches down to 0.3mm, a -55 to 155°C temperature range, and life of 500,000 cycles. Kelvin-Ready™ designs use field-configurable sense contacts for any I/O to enable precision Kelvin measurements and test-system monitoring feedback loops, with Kelvin used for improved characterization and removable for production. Pad VROL® and Leaded VROL® test contactors use patented VROL® technology for Precision Analog, Mixed Signal, and RF testing and list consistent contact resistance, improved OEE, and less frequent cleaning. Manual Actuators are listed for precision IC engineering and low-volume testing, providing repeatable alignment, consistent contact force, and reliable performance. Pad ROL® test contactors use patented ROL® technology for RF and microwave communications devices to 40 GHz and list consistent contact resistance, repeatable results, and higher first-pass yield. Leaded ROL® contactors are presented for Precision Analog, Mixed Signal, and RF testing with consistent contact resistance, improved OEE, and less frequent cleaning. The WLCSP probe array is described as providing low and stable contact resistance by optimizing engineered parameters including effective probe signal-transmission path, with stable and accurate test signals, increased yields, and less retest. Listed application examples include point-to-point communications at 60-70 GHz, satellite communication at 43.5 GHz, gyro as mid-speed digital, Bluetooth at 2.4 GHz, current regulators, manifold air-pressure sensors and voltage regulators as low-speed analog, radar at 77-81 GHz, and tire-pressure sensors as low-speed digital.
Capabilities and products
- custom test sockets for BGA/LGA/QFN/DFN/QFP/WLCSP
- Short Contact® semiconductor test contactors
- -65°C to 175°C tri-temperature test contactors
- 0.3mm-class BGA/QFN/LGA spring probes
- Kelvin-Ready™ precision measurement contactors
- 40 GHz RF/microwave test contactors
- WLCSP low-contact-resistance probe arrays