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Technology Stocks : Rambus (RMBS) - Eagle or Penguin -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Tony Viola who wrote (24479)	7/9/1999 8:31:00 PM
From: Jdaasoc	Respond to of 93625

One of two articles on out new friends at Semibiznews.com Teradyne introduces 1-GHz digitizer for high-speed testing A service of Semiconductor Business News, CMP Media Inc. Story posted 4:45 p.m. EST/1:45 p.m., PST, 7/9/99 BOSTON--Teradyne Inc. today introduced a 1-GHz digitizer for multi-site testing of system-on-chip designs and mixed-signal ICs used in high-speed networks and disk drives. Teradyne said the 1-GHz digitizer is the highest performance available in the automatic test equipment industry. It is being offered with the company's Catalyst and A5 series of test systems. The system features a differential bandwidth of a full one gigahertz, 12 bits of resolution and the highest testing throughput of any instrument on the market, according to Teradyne. According to the company, more than 60 orders for the new instrument has been received. "The bandwidth required to test PRML [partial-response maximum-likelihood] disk drive read channels is exploding," said Garth Morrison, product manager for the 1-GHz DIG instrument. "With the 1-GHz DIG, test managers can be confident knowing their test solution's bandwidth is keeping ahead of accelerating PRML data rate requirements." But speed is not the only concern in testing "as PRML read channel prices are plummeting as fast as data rates are rising," Morrison notes. "In combination with Catalyst's parallel-test architecture, the 1-GHz DIG provides lightning-fast throughput and the lowest cost-of-test available today." Teradyne introduces 1-GHz digitizer for high-speed testing A service of Semiconductor Business News, CMP Media Inc. Story posted 4:45 p.m. EST/1:45 p.m., PST, 7/9/99 BOSTON--Teradyne Inc. today introduced a 1-GHz digitizer for multi-site testing of system-on-chip designs and mixed-signal ICs used in high-speed networks and disk drives. Teradyne said the 1-GHz digitizer is the highest performance available in the automatic test equipment industry. It is being offered with the company's Catalyst and A5 series of test systems. The system features a differential bandwidth of a full one gigahertz, 12 bits of resolution and the highest testing throughput of any instrument on the market, according to Teradyne. According to the company, more than 60 orders for the new instrument has been received. "The bandwidth required to test PRML [partial-response maximum-likelihood] disk drive read channels is exploding," said Garth Morrison, product manager for the 1-GHz DIG instrument. "With the 1-GHz DIG, test managers can be confident knowing their test solution's bandwidth is keeping ahead of accelerating PRML data rate requirements." But speed is not the only concern in testing "as PRML read channel prices are plummeting as fast as data rates are rising," Morrison notes. "In combination with Catalyst's parallel-test architecture, the 1-GHz DIG provides lightning-fast throughput and the lowest cost-of-test available today."

To: Tony Viola who wrote (24479)	7/9/1999 8:36:00 PM
From: Jdaasoc	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 93625

2nd article: Note mention of 60 units sold. Seems like the testing of RDRAM is no longer an issue 204.247.196.14 204.247.196.14 Daily news for semiconductor industry managers FormFactor delivers 64-device probe card to slash DRAM testing time A service of Semiconductor Business News, CMP Media Inc. Story posted 1 p.m. EST/10 a.m., PST, 7/9/99 By Stan Runyon LIVERMORE, Calif. ( ChipWire/EET) -- A 64-station, 1-GHz memory tester has been nudged closer to reality by FormFactor Inc., which has begun shipping the first production wafer probe card for 64-device in-parallel testing of 64-megabit synchronous DRAMs. The new card, built with FormFactor's MicroSpring contact technology, doubles the number of chips that can be tested simultaneously by a system and slashes the time to test a wafer by a factor of four -- from four hours to one hour, according to FormFactor. "Users can boost throughput by over 75%, which should make 64 in-parallel testing the mainstay of the DRAM industry," said Mark Brandemuehl, vice president of marketing for the Livermore-based company. Although Brandemuehl would not identify customers for the new card, likely users would include the big ATE vendors, such as Advantest Corp. and Teradyne Inc. Both companies have been trying to penetrate the emerging market for Rambus DRAM testing, which is looking for a 64-device, 1-GHz solution. In addition, Teradyne has been working with FormFactor to develop parallel probing solutions for its line of wafer probe systems. "We're convinced that higher parallelism teamed with core-speed testing will reduce test cost at probe," said Harold LaBonte, marketing manager at Teradyne's Memory Test Division. "High-bandwidth probe cards will be important as more testing moves to the wafer level with Rambus and other high-speed devices." Teradyne said its interface to the wafer through the MicroSpring technology delivers a bandwidth over 1 GHz. Gary Fleeman, memory product manager at Advantest America, confirmed the advantages of the new probe card technology. "It provides higher throughput and productivity, and lets our tester make the most of its parallel resources," he said. Fleeman also pointed to superior reliability and docking, and LaBonte pointed to yield improvement. Indeed, at a workshop last month at Semicon Europa, IBM revealed a 2% yield improvement by using FormFactor's probe cards. But that seemingly small improvement can result in a savings of thousands of dollars each month. Brandemuehl said an additional investment of $2 million in probe cards can result in a savings of $26 million in capital investment. With 64-Mbit SDRAMs, FormFactor's 64-device-under-test probe makes more than 2,000 wafer contacts in an eight by eight layout, and only 16 touchdowns on a 200-mm wafer. With 256 Mbits, as few as five touchdowns are possible.

To: Tony Viola who wrote (24479)	7/9/1999 8:42:00 PM
From: Jdaasoc	Respond to of 93625

Have we ever had this much ambigously good news at once. Either it is all very good or moderately bad. I just can't seem to get super excited about RMBS going sky high. Think market is ready for major pullback to S&P 1275 level. ebns.com Editorial: Good luck following the DRDRAM saga By Jack Robertson Electronic Buyers' News (07/09/99, 02:57:15 PM EDT) Confused about Intel Corp.'s upcoming 820 Camino chipsets and launch of Direct Rambus memory? Welcome to the fold. Intel is adamant that Direct Rambus will launch in September in all three speed versions, including 600 MHz, which has little PC-OEM interest; 700 MHz (actually 711 MHz); and 800 MHz. Supply and pricing of 700- and 800-MHz Direct RDRAM at launch are to be determined. Intel will simultaneously introduce two versions of the 820 chipset that will support Direct RDRAM memory for desktop PCs. One version will support all three speed grades, while the other-nicknamed by the industry Camino Light-will support 600- and 800-MHz Direct RDRAM speeds, but not the 700-MHz variety. Camino chipsets in all flavors will support PC100 SDRAM as an alternative, but not the higher-speed PC133 memory that much of the industry wants to adopt. That presents a clock-speed mismatch with the Camino's new 133-MHz frontside bus, which can affect PC performance. Intel will use a complex scheme called the Memory Translator Hub (MTH) to connect PC100 SDRAM instead of Direct RDRAM with Camino. This requires an ASIC converter chip, two DIMM sockets, and two RIMM sockets on the motherboard-although only one type of memory or the other can be used. It's arguable just to use conventional PC100 motherboards. And since the MTH apparently won't support PC133 memory, its performance could be lower than motherboards using higher-speed PC133 SDRAM. When Intel's Camino chipsets come out sporting a 133-MHz frontside bus in September, independent Taiwanese chipset vendors presumably will be able to connect PC133 memory to that interface. Via Technologies Inc. and Intel are sparring in court over Via using its own 133-MHz frontside bus to connect PC133 SDRAM to Pentium processors. But industry sources agreed that when the Intel frontside bus is available, the Taiwanese independents will indeed be able to use that interface to connect PC133 memory. Then there's the new 810e integrated graphics/core-logic chipset that will connect to a 133-MHz frontside bus. Intel insists the 810e will support only PC100 SDRAM-another clock mismatch. But if Intel holds firm on using only PC100 main memory, performance could be less than using higher-speed PC133 memory and soon-to-come double data rate PC266 SDRAM. Of course, Intel could get rid of most of these contortions by simply adopting PC133 memory as an alternative to Direct Rambus. The growing mystery of what Intel might be doing in PC133 merely adds to the confusion.