Accurately "diagnose" the yield rate of chips: The technological iteration of semiconductor device testers is accelerating, and the domestic production process is also speeding up comprehensively.

In today's semiconductor industry, which is moving towards advanced manufacturing processes below 3 nanometers and heterogeneous integration, the complexity of chips is increasing exponentially. A single chip now contains hundreds of billions of transistors, and any microscopic defect can lead to the failure of the entire system. As the "quality guardian" of semiconductor manufacturing, semiconductor device testers, with their core capabilities of high precision, high efficiency, and high reliability, are becoming the key equipment to ensure chip performance and improve yield rates. With the explosive growth of emerging applications such as artificial intelligence, 5G communication, and new energy vehicles, the global semiconductor testing equipment market is experiencing a new round of technological transformation and pattern reshaping. 
Market Blue Ocean: Surge in Testing Demand Drives Industry Upward Leap
Semiconductor device testers precisely verify the functional integrity and reliability of chips by applying electrical signals and comparing the output results. With the increase in semiconductor production and the complexity of chips, the global semiconductor testing equipment market continues to expand. According to industry data, the global testing equipment market valuation reached 7.2 billion US dollars in 2024, and is expected to grow to 7.65 billion US dollars in 2025, and is expected to reach 12.7 billion US dollars by 2032, with a compound annual growth rate of 7.5% during the forecast period. 
Behind the rapid growth of the testing equipment market lies the combined effect of multiple driving factors. The explosive growth of AI computing power chips has become an important driving force - the global testing machine market size is approximately 6 billion US dollars in 2024, with the testing of Compute-type chips contributing the main growth, with a year-on-year increase of about 57%. At the same time, the surge in demand for HBM high-bandwidth memory has also driven the Memory testing machine market to grow by approximately 56% year-on-year. At the technical evolution level, the miniaturization of chips, the rise of Chiplet architecture, 3D stacking technology, and the popularization of advanced packaging have all imposed unprecedentedly strict requirements on high-precision testing systems. 
Technical breakthrough: Comprehensive coverage from static parameters to dynamic characteristics
Semiconductor device testing is shifting from traditional static parameter measurements to encompassing aspects such as dynamic characteristics and reliability assessment. The current mainstream testing equipment has established a complete technical matrix: 
The static parameter testing system focuses on the measurement of the basic electrical parameters of devices. This equipment can test 7 major categories and 26 subcategories of electronic components such as IGBTs, MOSFETs, and HEMTs made of Si, SiC, and GaN materials. The high-voltage source is standardly equipped with 1400V (optional up to 3KV), and the high-current source is standardly equipped with 40A (optional up to 1000A). The resolution can reach up to 100uV/100pA, and the accuracy can be up to 0.1%. The equipment adopts a Kelvin induction structure test socket, which can automatically compensate for the voltage drop caused by the system and cables, ensuring the accuracy and reliability of the test results. 
The C-V characteristic analyzer focuses on characterizing the capacitance-voltage characteristics of the devices. The HuaHui TH510 series adopts a dual-CPU architecture, with a test speed of 0.56 ms per measurement (1800 measurements per second), a frequency range of 1 kHz - 2 MHz, and a capacitance resolution of up to 0.00001 pF. For the parasitic parameter testing requirements of power devices such as MOSFETs and IGBTs, this equipment can measure key parameters such as Ciss, Coss, Crss, and Rg with one click, supports parallel testing of up to 6 single-device or module-device components, and significantly improves production line efficiency. 
The device parameter analyzer is evolving towards a multi-functional integrated design. Guilan Electronics' FS800 integrates current-voltage (IV) testing, capacitance-voltage (CV) testing, rapid waveform generation, and high-speed time-domain signal acquisition capabilities within a single unit. The sampling rate can be extended to 100 MS/s, and the minimum pulse width can be shortened to 130 ns. This device can accurately capture the resistance change process of memristors and the high-speed electrochemical reactions of neural synaptic devices under pulse stimulation, providing key technical support for cutting-edge research such as brain-inspired computing. The Keysight B1500A, as a benchmark product in the industry, also supports comprehensive measurements ranging from basic I-V/C-V characterization to rapid pulse I-V testing, with an current measurement resolution of up to 10 fA level. 

The company has achieved significant advantages in power supply capacity, vector depth, and overall water cooling cooling system, enabling it to meet the demanding test requirements for advanced packaging and high-performance computing chips. 

In the field of wafer-level testing, Guangli Micro has recently achieved a significant breakthrough. The company's first self-developed wafer-level aging testing system, WLBI B5260M, specifically designed for silicon carbide (SiC) and gallium nitride (GaN) power devices, has been officially delivered. This equipment can simultaneously support the testing of 6 wafers for a long time under high-temperature gate bias (HTGB) and high-temperature reverse bias (HTRB) conditions, with temperature uniformity less than ±1℃. The HTRB test supports an upper reverse bias voltage of up to 2000V, providing an efficient and precise solution for the reliability screening of compound semiconductors. 
In the field of flying needle testing, Jinan Guokeshi Testing has successfully broken the international monopoly. The company's independently developed 10μm-level flying needle testing system has a testing pressure of only 0.3g, and the repeat positioning accuracy is controlled within ±2μm. The relevant indicators have reached the world's top level. In January 2026, the company released its latest products - a large tabletop automatic flying needle testing machine and the next-generation Z-axis motor and DeepTester software. Orders have been placed until the end of the year, and the estimated annual output is approximately 200 million yuan. 
Scene Enhancement: Enabling the Entire Chain from Wafer Manufacturing to Frontier Research
The application scenarios of semiconductor device testers are expanding from the traditional fields of wafer manufacturing and packaging testing to a wider range of areas such as research and development verification, failure analysis, and component selection and pairing. 
In the wafer manufacturing process, the wafer-level electrical parameter testing equipment measures the electrical parameters of the test structures (such as transistors, resistors, capacitors, etc.) on the wafer, monitoring the stability of the manufacturing process, evaluating the product yield, and providing data support for subsequent packaging testing and production line optimization. 
In the field of power devices, the emergence of wide bandgap semiconductors such as SiC and GaN has placed higher demands on testing equipment. The launch of Guangli Micro's B5260M has enabled the entire industry to directly apply high-temperature and high-pressure stress to chips on wafers before packaging, accelerating the aging process, accurately screening defective chips with reliability issues, and significantly reducing packaging and testing costs. 
At the forefront of scientific research, high-end testing equipment is becoming an important support for basic research. Guolun Electronics' FS800 has successfully won the bid for the semiconductor electronic measurement system project of Nanjing University. It will provide full-process technical support for the university in material research, device fabrication, and application system development in the cutting-edge fields such as memristors and neural network architectures. The test data not only serves as a reference for delivery quality but also reflects the operation status of the production line. Through statistical analysis, it helps engineers identify potential problems and make process improvements. 
In the failure analysis and incoming material inspection stages, the semiconductor static parameter tester can conduct in-depth analysis of failed devices, identify the failure mechanism, and provide improvement directions for the optimization of electronic system design. At the same time, the R&D institute and the IQC department of the electronics factory can use the equipment to conduct random inspections or full inspections of incoming components, thereby controlling the yield rate from the source. 
Future Trends: Intelligence, Parallelization, Customization
Looking ahead, semiconductor device testers are accelerating their evolution in three main directions: 
Intelligence: The AI-driven testing systems are transforming the way quality control is carried out. Predictive maintenance, real-time decision-making, and adaptive testing algorithms can achieve faster and more accurate testing cycles, reduce downtime, and increase yield. 
Parallelization: Multi-module parallel testing has become the core path to break through the testing bottleneck. By simultaneously conducting testing operations on multiple devices, the time for a single test can be significantly shortened; combined with meta-heuristic algorithms for dynamic scheduling of testing tasks, the completion time can be minimized, and the equipment utilization rate can be improved. In the wafer testing stage, multi-site parallel testing can also reduce the number of probe card contacts, lower testing costs, and increase the chip shipment volume per unit time. 
Customization: With the widespread adoption of 3D IC and advanced packaging technologies, the demand for highly specialized testing solutions is increasing. For modular devices such as dual-channel MOSFETs and multi-group IGBTs, which have complex packaging forms, the testing equipment needs to support customized testing schemes and include built-in common chip testing demos to meet diverse requirements. 
From extremely tiny transistors to complex system-level chips, from mature silicon-based devices to emerging compound semiconductors, semiconductor device testers are safeguarding the high-quality development of China's chips with their constantly improving "sharp eyes", contributing Chinese wisdom and solutions to the reshaping of the global semiconductor industry landscape.