FREMONT, Calif., June 6, 2013 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Aehr Test Systems (Nasdaq:AEHR), a worldwide supplier of semiconductor test and burn-in equipment, and Integrated Service Technology, Inc. (iST) announced today that Aehr Test has delivered an additional ABTS-Pi Advanced Burn-in and Test System with high power and an individual temperature control system to meet additional capacity needs at iST.

Founded in 1994, iST group, which is headquartered in Hsinchu, Taiwan, is a leading lab-service company, specializing in the development of IC product testing and analysis, failure analysis, debugging, reliability test, and material analysis. Due to the outsourcing trend among large international manufacturers, iST has also taken on the role of an independent quality testing laboratory for brand-name companies’ outsourced products and has been certified by Motorola, Dell, Cisco, and Delphi. iST is now one of the top laboratories in the world.

iST is adding the high power and individual temperature control capacity to their existing installed base of ABTS systems at their Taiwan facility. iST also has an installed base of ABTS systems at their Shanghai facility.

iST group has expanded its operations to Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen, Kansan, Japan and Sunnyvale (USA), in order to provide customers with prompt, reliable and high quality technical service.

Kevin Tsui, vice president of Reliability Engineering at iST, states, “The breakthrough in the 28nm process achieved by semiconductor foundries in 2012 has spurred the semiconductor industry supply chain to move toward the even more advanced 20nm process and integrated packaging in 2013. To overcome the problems with service life encountered by IC design houses as the process changes, industry leader iST introduced Aehr Test Systems’ ABTS-Pi system for high power burn in of these devices and has recently added capability for testing devices with up to 70-80 Amps per device using this system. The ABTS-Pi system allows for individual device temperature control of the “high-powered” High Temperature Operating Life (HTOL) test that will help IC design houses carry out IC reliability testing for advanced processes in a simpler and more cost-effective manner.”

Semiconductor component processes have continued to evolve towards more advanced 28nm and 20nm processes with the maturing of cloud integration technology, increasing the penetration of mobile communications products and the continued trend towards lighter, thinner and more compact mobile devices. Market demand has also increased for advanced packaging technologies such as SiP, SOC, POP, 3D and 3D TSV. The top two packaging and testing companies in Taiwan, ASE and SPIL, are now preparing to move from the prototype stage to mass production of these devices. Leading foundries are also investing heavily in new application products.

Mr. Tsui further explained, “If multiple ICs are placed in one package, heat transfer between different components will interfere with and reduce their overall service life. This is known as the 10°C theory (life is reduced by half for every 10°C increase in temperature). For ICs from advanced processes, more transistors are packed into the same area. The heat generated is several times more than that of past IC products so the increase in temperature has a significant impact on IC life.

“The power variance between ICs caused by differences in the production process is also increased. For IC design houses, one of the most important issues they now face is how to effectively and stably control the temperature of each DUT (Device Under Test) during IC HTOL testing in order to derive the estimated actual service life through a stable, high-temperature accelerated simulation test,” Mr. Tsui concluded.

The IC HTOL solution introduced by iST uses the Aehr Test Systems ABTS-Pi, which provides greater control over Power and I/O channels. Independent temperature control is also possible, replacing the conventional air cooling and heating method. For IC design houses, this reduces the uncertainty during IC testing and shortens the amount of validation time required before a product can go into mass production.

“We are very pleased to extend our partnership with iST,” said Gayn Erickson, president and chief executive officer at Aehr Test Systems. “This partnership is allowing iST’s customers to achieve ongoing cost, reliability and through-put benefits with our ABTS-Pi solution in a market that is growing significantly. iST has excellent engineering and operational resources and we are delighted to be able to recommend iST to our customers looking for added test capacity for high power burn-in and test services.”

For more information, please contact iST sales on TEL: +886-3-579-9909.

About Aehr Test Systems

Headquartered in Fremont, California, Aehr Test Systems is a worldwide provider of test systems for burning-in and testing logic and memory integrated circuits and has an installed base of more than 2,500 systems worldwide. Increased quality and reliability needs of the Automotive and Mobility integrated circuit markets are driving additional test requirements, capacity needs and opportunities for Aehr Test products in package and wafer level test. Aehr Test has developed and introduced several innovative products, including the ABTS and FOX^TM families of test and burn-in systems and the DiePak® carrier. The ABTS system is used in production and qualification testing of packaged parts for both low-power and high-power logic as well as all common types of memory devices. The FOX system is a full wafer contact test and burn-in system used for burn-in and functional test of complex devices, such as leading-edge memories, digital signal processors, microprocessors, microcontrollers and systems-on-a-chip. The DiePak carrier is a reusable, temporary package that enables IC manufacturers to perform cost-effective final test and burn-in of bare die. For more information, please visit the Company’s website at www.aehr.com.

Safe Harbor Statement

This release contains forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties relating to projections regarding customer demand and acceptance of Aehr Test’s products. Actual results may vary from projected results. These risks and uncertainties include, without limitation, acceptance by customers of the ABTS technology, acceptance by customers of the ABTS systems shipped upon receipt of a purchase order and the ability of new products to meet customer needs or perform as described. See Aehr Test’s recent 10-K, 10-Q and other reports from time to time filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission for a more detailed description of the risks facing our business. The Company 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.

Contacts:
Aehr Test Systems Vernon Rogers EVP Sales and Marketing (510) 623-9400 x215 vrogers@aehr.com	MKR Investor Relations Inc. Todd Kehrli or Jim Byers Analyst/Investor Contact (213) 277-5550 aehr@mkr-group.com