Aehr Announces Shipment of New High-Power Configured FOX-XP(TM) System for Wafer Level Burn-in and Stabilization of Next Generation Silicon Photonics Integrated Circuits

FREMONT, CA / ACCESSWIRE / March 1, 2024 / Aehr Test Systems (NASDAQ:AEHR), a worldwide supplier of semiconductor test and burn-in equipment, today announced it has shipped the first order from a major silicon photonics customer for a new high-power configuration of its FOX-XP™ system for volume production wafer level burn-in and stabilization of next generation silicon photonics integrated circuits (ICs).

This FOX-XP multi-wafer test and burn-in system is configured to enable cost-effective volume production test of wafers of next-generation photonic ICs, which can require up to two to four times as much power per wafer for test and burn-in and stabilization of the silicon photonics devices, and are targeted for use in the new optical I/O or co-packaged optics market.

Gayn Erickson, President and CEO of Aehr Test Systems, commented, "We are excited to have shipped this new high-power configuration that expands the market opportunities of the FOX-XP system. We were able to deliver these new capabilities and value through an upgrade of one of the customer's existing systems while maintaining backwards and forwards compatibility with all test programs, WaferPaks™, and correlation results of previous lower power wafers. This is a testament to our commitment to compatibility for our FOX platform.

"We remain very enthusiastic about the silicon photonics market, which includes the current photonics transceiver market used in data and telecommunications, as well as the new application of silicon photonics integrated circuits for use in optical chip-to-chip communication that we see as a significant market opportunity for our products.

"This new FOX-XP system configuration and WaferPaks allow for testing up to 8,192 high-power optical devices in parallel on each of nine wafers before they are singulated and placed into a fiberoptic transceiver for data center and telecommunications infrastructure or for placement in co-packaged optics for optical chip-to-chip communication. Multiple companies including AMD, Nvidia, Intel, TSMC, and GlobalFoundries have announced product roadmaps for devices using optical chip-to-chip communication."

The new FOX-XP system configuration with high-power WaferPaks enables production test of up to 3,500 watts of power per wafer and up to nine full wafers in parallel. It also includes Aehr's latest chamber configuration which has a smaller overall footprint and is compatible with Aehr's new WaferPak AutoAligner that Aehr began shipping last year. This provides Aehr customers with fully automated material handling in a hands-free operation of 6" to 12" wafers using industry standard wafer cassettes and Front Opening Unified Pods (FOUPs) and can also support mobile robot and overhead transport of wafers in FOUPs.

The FOX-XP and FOX-NP systems and proprietary WaferPaks are capable of functional test and burn-in/cycling of silicon carbide and gallium nitride power semiconductors, silicon photonics integrated circuits as well as other optical devices, 2D and 3D sensors, flash memories, magnetic sensors, microcontrollers, and other leading-edge ICs in either wafer form factor before they are assembled into single or multi-die stacked packages, or in singulated die or module form factor.

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, 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. 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; bookings forecasted for proprietary WaferPak^TM and DiePak consumables; and expectations related to long-term demand for Aehr's productions and the attractiveness of key markets. 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.

SOURCE: Aehr Test Systems