Automatic generation of load board schematics for testing mixed signal ICs

One of the most time consuming tasks during the test development phase is the design of the DUT (device under test) board where the IC is to be inserted to run on a mixed signal tester. This paper focuses on a new methodology of capturing test information for an IC through test module schematics and then using an automatic tool to synthesize and generate the graphical schematics for the final load board circuitry to be used on mixed signal ATE (automatic test equipment). This results in a significant time reduction in the design of the DUT load board circuit. The process flow of the tool is described and an example showing the resulting synthesized load board circuit schematic is given