Advantest Corporation has developed its T6371 LCD Driver Test System. This new tester enables fast and accurate testing of devices such as Thin Film Transistor (TFT) drivers, and chips that integrate both a controller and a LCD driver.

As the data communication industry continues its rapid expansion, OEMs have been actively ramping up production of liquid crystal displays (LCDs), the flat panel screens commonly used in personal computers and mobile phones. This increased production has made it essential that chipmakers get testers that can provide accurate, high-throughput, and affordable testing of LCD drivers.

To help chipmakers deal with this rapid increase in production of LCDs, Advantest has released the T6371. With its ability to simultaneously test a maximum of either two TFT drivers or four chips that contain a controller and a LCD driver, this new system offers twice the testing throughput offered by previous systems.

As consumers increasingly demand higher resolutions, manufacturers are working hard to increase the number of greyscales provided by TFT displays. This, coupled with the demand for larger screens, has translated into a dramatic rise in the amount of pins found on TFT drivers. Because conventional testers are unable to accommodate this increase in pins, measuring the precision output greyscale voltages consumes an inordinate proportion of the device's overall testing time.