What is testing?
Testing is a process where the chief instructors evaluate the skills of the student to determine whether they are ready to progress to the next level of training. What is required to pass testing increases as a student increases in rank. Students who are black belts are expected to perform with greater precision and power than beginning level students.
Wafer testing or wafer probing is the process of testing each wafer before packaging using very expensive automated test equipment (ATE). The wafer is then cut into small rectangles called dice. Each good die is then connected into a package using aluminum (or gold) wires which are welded to pads, usually found around the edge of the die. After packaging, the devices go through final test on the same or similar ATE used during wafer probing. Test cost can account for over 25% of the cost of fabrication on lower cost products, but can be negligible on low yielding, larger, and/or higher cost devices.
