Qualcomm exec talks IoT, says ATE won't be free

San Francisco, CA. Speaking at Test Vision 2020 held in conjunction with SEMICON West, Michael Campbell, senior vice president at Qualcomm Technologies Inc., noted that the IoT promises vast opportunities and challenges. Nevertheless, he said of “The Internet of things,” “I hate that phrase.” It's not just an Internet of things, he suggested, “It's the Internet of things we need the services of. This is personal.” In that regard, he echoed the views of Dr. Vida Ilderem, Intel Labs vice president and director of Integrated Computing Research (ICR), who at a keynote address at the International Microwave Symposium last month, also stressed the importance of personalization and putting data in context.

Campbell suggested that the IoT will propel the production of tens of billions or even trillions of devices that need to be tested. Yield, he said, will be quintessentially important. Applications range from monitored medical devices to city infrastructure. Robots, he said, will be able to examine sewer drains, explaining that city infrastructure failures can result in personal inconvenience.

What may help the rollout of IoT devices, he said, is that they can be fabricated in “gen minus X” technology, and legacy eight-inch fabs will often suffice to produce the devices. However, integration will increase complexity, as stacked devices present challenges and delicate microballs emphasize the “do not touch” problem of damage resulting from test contacting.

He noted that test giants can fail if they are not nimble and said that test consumables offer an increasing slice of the test budget. ATE spends as a percentage of CAPEX is declining, he said, but ATE is not going to be free.

Campbell emphasized that IoT is the next big app for the semiconductor industry. “Low-cost, flexible, and highly configurable platforms will be required for success,” he said. He concluded by calling for tighter linkage of EDA tools directly to ATE. “If you are a test engineer,” he concluded, “I want to put you out of business.”