Arizona Tribune - Aehr Test Systems Announces Wafer Level Burn-in and Test Application Evaluation Order from Leading AI Processor Supplier

This paid evaluation includes a custom WaferPak^TM high-power fine-pitch 300mm wafer contactor and a production WLBI test program development, including characterization and correlation to the supplier's existing production burn-in process. The WLBI test and burn-in application evaluation will be conducted at Aehr Test's Fremont, California facility using its FOX-XP™ production test and burn-in systems.

Demonstrating High-Power Capability

The evaluation program will feature a complete characterization and correlation plan to validate Aehr's FOX-XP^TM production systems for WLBI and functional test of one of this supplier's high-performance, high-power AI processors on 300mm wafers. The evaluation will demonstrate a custom designed WaferPak wafer contactor, which is configured to functionally test and deliver hundreds of amps of current to each of the supplier's high-power processors while in wafer form.

In addition, Aehr will demonstrate the FOX-XP's advanced thermal management capabilities, precise wafer temperature regulation, and the ability to manage device operating conditions across the full wafer.

CEO Commentary

"We previously reported during our last earnings call that this top-tier AI processor supplier asked us to move forward with an on-wafer burn-in evaluation using their devices, and we are pleased today to announce the receipt of a purchase order for this evaluation from them," said Gayn Erickson, President and CEO of Aehr Test Systems. "We believe this represents a significant step forward in our engagement with this top-tier AI processor supplier.

"While there can be no guarantee that this customer will ultimately purchase our FOX wafer level test and burn-in solutions for production, we believe that this paid evaluation is an important milestone and first step toward the adoption of wafer level burn-in as an alternative to their production burn-in done in later manufacturing steps and toward using Aehr's wafer level burn-in solution for their next-generation products. We estimate that this evaluation will take approximately three to six months to complete.

Wafer-Level vs. Package-Level Burn-In

"The evaluation will also highlight the advantages of WLBI over traditional package-level burn-in, particularly for devices such as advanced AI processors, which are often packaged along with high-bandwidth memory chips (HBM) as well as other compute processors. Screening devices at the wafer stage enables customers to identify and remove failures before these devices are packaged with other costly devices. This improves yield and reduces costs, as these AI processors that fail at the WLBI step would ultimately fail in the downstream burn-in process if they had not been subject to the WLBI screening, which would add the cost of throwing away the other devices as well as the expensive multi-chip advanced package itself."

Aehr is in the unique position of being the only company that offers solutions for both wafer level burn-in (with the FOX-XP platform) as well as package part burn-in (with its Sonoma™ test and burn-in systems), giving customers flexibility to qualify and screen devices at multiple stages of their manufacturing process.

Expanding AI Market Opportunity

"The market opportunity for wafer level and packaged part burn-in of AI processors is extremely compelling," Mr. Erickson added. "The rapid adoption of AI across hyperscale datacenters, cloud providers, enterprise infrastructure, and consumer applications is driving exponential demand for high-performance processors and accelerators. These devices require unprecedented levels of power density, high-speed interconnect, and advanced multi-die packaging.

"Aehr's FOX-XP multi-wafer test and burn-in system is capable of testing and burning-in up to 18 wafers simultaneously, with fully independent resources to each wafer. It is the only production-proven solution for full wafer-level test and burn-in of high-power devices such as silicon carbide power semiconductors, flash memory, photonics ICs, and AI processors."

About Aehr Test Systems

Headquartered in Fremont, California, Aehr Test Systems is a leading provider of test solutions for testing, burning-in, and stabilizing semiconductor devices in wafer level, singulated die, and package part form, and has installed thousands of systems worldwide. Increasing quality, reliability, safety, and security needs of semiconductors used across multiple applications, including electric vehicles, electric vehicle charging infrastructure, solar and wind power, computing, advanced AI processors, data and telecommunications infrastructure, and solid-state memory and storage, are driving additional test requirements, incremental capacity needs, and new opportunities for Aehr Test products and solutions. Aehr has developed and introduced several innovative products including the FOX-P^TM families of test and burn-in systems and FOX WaferPak^TM Aligner, FOX WaferPak Contactor, FOX DiePak^® Carrier and FOX DiePak Loader. The FOX-XP and FOX-NP systems are full wafer contact and singulated die/module test and burn-in systems that can test, burn-in, and stabilize a wide range of devices such as leading-edge silicon carbide-based and other power semiconductors, 2D and 3D sensors used in mobile phones, tablets, and other computing devices, memory semiconductors, processors, microcontrollers, systems-on-a-chip, and photonics and integrated optical devices. The FOX-CP system is a low-cost single-wafer compact test solution for logic, memory and photonic devices and the newest addition to the FOX-P product family. The FOX WaferPak Contactor contains a unique full wafer contactor capable of testing wafers up to 300mm that enables IC manufacturers to perform test, burn-in, and stabilization of full wafers on the FOX-P systems. The FOX DiePak Carrier allows testing, burning in, and stabilization of singulated bare die and modules up to 1024 devices in parallel per DiePak on the FOX-NP and FOX-XP systems up to nine DiePaks at a time. Acquired through its acquisition of Incal Technology, Inc., Aehr's new line of high-power packaged part reliability/burn-in test solutions for Artificial Intelligence (AI) semiconductor manufacturers, including its ultra-high-power Sonoma family of test solutions for AI accelerators, GPUs, and high-performance computing (HPC) processors, position Aehr within the rapidly growing AI market as a turn-key provider of reliability and testing that span from engineering to high volume production. For more information, please visit Aehr Test Systems' website at www.aehr.com.

Safe Harbor Statement

This press release contains certain forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Forward-looking statements generally relate to future events or Aehr's future financial or operating performance. In some cases, you can identify forward-looking statements because they contain words such as "may," "will," "should," "expects," "plans," "anticipates," "going to," "could," "intends," "target," "projects," "contemplates," "believes," "estimates," "predicts," "potential," or "continue," or the negative of these words or other similar terms or expressions that concern Aehr's expectations, strategy, priorities, plans, or intentions. Forward-looking statements in this press release include, but are not limited to, future requirements and orders of Aehr's new and existing customers; Aehr's ability to receive orders and generate revenue in the future, as well as Aehr's beliefs regarding the factors impacting the foregoing, including the growth of the markets referred to herein; Aehr's ability to integrate Incal efficiently; and the timing and extent to which the acquisition is accretive. The forward-looking statements contained in this press release are also subject to other risks and uncertainties, including those more fully described in Aehr's recent Form 10-K, 10-Q and other reports filed from time to time with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Aehr disclaims any obligation to update information contained in any forward-looking statement to reflect events or circumstances occurring after the date of this press release.

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Contacts:

Aehr Test Systems
Vernon Rogers
EVP of Sales & Marketing
(510) 623-9400 x215
[email protected]

PondelWilkinson, Inc.
Todd Kehrli or Jim Byers
Analyst/Investor Contact
[email protected]
[email protected]

SOURCE: Aehr Test Systems

View the original press release on ACCESS Newswire

M.King--AT