Credence Systems
Encyclopedia
Credence Systems Corporation was a manufacturer of test equipment for the global semiconductor
industry, with a major focus on solving specific challenges facing the fast growing consumer-driven semiconductor markets. Founded in 1978 by David Mees as Semiconductor Test Solutions, the company changed its name to Credence after acquiring Axiom and ASIX in 1990. It was publicly traded on the Nasdaq
stock market under the symbol CMOS before the merger with LTX
in 2008. It is headquartered in Milpitas, California
, and is established in twenty countries.
Customers include integrated device manufacturer
s (IDMs), wafer
foundries, outsource assembly and test (OSAT) suppliers and fabless chip companies.
signed a merger agreement with Credence Systems Corporation: LTX CEO and President David Tacelli will become CEO of the merged company.
On August 29, 2008 LTX and Credence Systems Corporation complete merger to form LTX-Credence Corporation
(NASDAQ: LTXC). [3]
On November 18, 2010, Verigy
and LTXC agreed on a merger/acquisition operation, the new company will be operated under Verigy name.
On March 27,2011 the merger agreement with Verigy was terminated as Verigy accepted a merger offer from Advantest. LTXC decided to remain a stand-alone company.
Credence System’s remaining principal competitors in the ATE business are:
Semiconductor
A semiconductor is a material with electrical conductivity due to electron flow intermediate in magnitude between that of a conductor and an insulator. This means a conductivity roughly in the range of 103 to 10−8 siemens per centimeter...
industry, with a major focus on solving specific challenges facing the fast growing consumer-driven semiconductor markets. Founded in 1978 by David Mees as Semiconductor Test Solutions, the company changed its name to Credence after acquiring Axiom and ASIX in 1990. It was publicly traded on the Nasdaq
NASDAQ
The NASDAQ Stock Market, also known as the NASDAQ, is an American stock exchange. "NASDAQ" originally stood for "National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations". It is the second-largest stock exchange by market capitalization in the world, after the New York Stock Exchange. As of...
stock market under the symbol CMOS before the merger with LTX
LTX
LTX is a semiconductor Automatic Test Equipment vendor, founded in 1976 and headquartered in Norwood, MA . Annual sales for the fiscal year ending July 31, 2007, were approximately $147.6MM, and, as of that date, the company had 436 direct employees.The present focus of the company is the design...
in 2008. It is headquartered in Milpitas, California
Milpitas, California
Milpitas is a city in Santa Clara County, California. It is a suburb of the major city of San Jose, California. It is located with San Jose to its south and Fremont to its north, at the eastern end of State Route 237 and generally between Interstates 680 and 880 which run roughly north/south...
, and is established in twenty countries.
Customers include integrated device manufacturer
Integrated device manufacturer
An integrated device manufacturer is a semiconductor company which designs, manufactures, and sells integrated circuit products. As a classification, IDM is often used to differentiate between a company which handles semiconductor manufacturing in-house, and a fabless semiconductor company, which...
s (IDMs), wafer
Wafer (electronics)
A wafer is a thin slice of semiconductor material, such as a silicon crystal, used in the fabrication of integrated circuits and other microdevices...
foundries, outsource assembly and test (OSAT) suppliers and fabless chip companies.
Product Lines
Over the years Credence either produced or acquired many product lines including:- STS6000 and STS8000 - The earliest STS test product, these purely digital automatic ICIntegrated circuitAn integrated circuit or monolithic integrated circuit is an electronic circuit manufactured by the patterned diffusion of trace elements into the surface of a thin substrate of semiconductor material...
testers started as Sentry compatible clones. The programming language was lifted from the Sentry Factor standard and renamed EnFact, for ENhanced FACTor. - AT100/STS3000/STS4000/STS5000 - These Mixed Signal (Analog and Digital) automatic ICIntegrated circuitAn integrated circuit or monolithic integrated circuit is an electronic circuit manufactured by the patterned diffusion of trace elements into the surface of a thin substrate of semiconductor material...
testers were derived from the Axiom Technology AT100 located in Burlington, MA. Later this product line was renamed Domain. - SC212 - This line was derived from the ASIX digital automated ICIntegrated circuitAn integrated circuit or monolithic integrated circuit is an electronic circuit manufactured by the patterned diffusion of trace elements into the surface of a thin substrate of semiconductor material...
tester acquired from Asix Systems in California. This was one of the first testers touted as having "zero footprint", there being a test head with a only a tiny cabinet providing power and airflow instead of a large mainframe taking up test floor space. - Vista/Duo/Quartet - This product line was derived from the Tektronix LT1000 product offering after Credence bought the Semiconductor Test Systems division from Tektronix.
- Valstar - A digital automated ICIntegrated circuitAn integrated circuit or monolithic integrated circuit is an electronic circuit manufactured by the patterned diffusion of trace elements into the surface of a thin substrate of semiconductor material...
test system of up to 1024 pins. This was one of the few testers Credence made from scratch, as opposed to most of the others which were captured through acquisitions. - Sapphire - An ICIntegrated circuitAn integrated circuit or monolithic integrated circuit is an electronic circuit manufactured by the patterned diffusion of trace elements into the surface of a thin substrate of semiconductor material...
test system intended primarily for production testing with multisite capabilities, i.e., the option to test multiple chips in one go. It can be scaled to varying requirements, with a top clock rate of more than 6.4 GHz. In January 2008, Credence decided to stop developing the Sapphire platform, reduce its workforce by 35%, and close the main development site for the platform in Saint-ÉtienneSaint-ÉtienneSaint-Étienne is a city in eastern central France. It is located in the Massif Central, southwest of Lyon in the Rhône-Alpes region, along the trunk road that connects Toulouse with Lyon...
, France (previously part of SchlumbergerSchlumbergerSchlumberger Limited is the world's largest oilfield services company. Schlumberger employs over 110,000 people of more than 140 nationalities working in approximately 80 countries...
, then Nptest). - Diamond - comprising two system targeted at both chip development testing and production testing, primarily for applications that are cost-sensitive.
- ASL - A product series of three distinct models. The entry model has very low environment requirements; it is unusual among ATEAutomatic test equipmentAutomatic or Automated Test Equipment is any apparatus that performs tests on a device, known as the Device Under Test , using automation to quickly perform measurements and evaluate the test results...
s in that is needs neither water nor specialized power supply. The ASL models are targeted at RFRadio frequencyRadio frequency is a rate of oscillation in the range of about 3 kHz to 300 GHz, which corresponds to the frequency of radio waves, and the alternating currents which carry radio signals...
applications such as video, or wireless telecommunication chips.
Competition
On June 22, 2008 competitor LTXLTX
LTX is a semiconductor Automatic Test Equipment vendor, founded in 1976 and headquartered in Norwood, MA . Annual sales for the fiscal year ending July 31, 2007, were approximately $147.6MM, and, as of that date, the company had 436 direct employees.The present focus of the company is the design...
signed a merger agreement with Credence Systems Corporation: LTX CEO and President David Tacelli will become CEO of the merged company.
On August 29, 2008 LTX and Credence Systems Corporation complete merger to form LTX-Credence Corporation
LTX-Credence Corporation
LTX-Credence Corporation is the result of a merger of LTX and Credence Systems Corporation in 2008. LTX-Credence manufactures Automatic Test Equipment for the semiconductor industry.-Competitors:LTX-Credence's principal competitors are:...
(NASDAQ: LTXC). [3]
On November 18, 2010, Verigy
Verigy
Verigy Ltd is an Advantest Group company in the semiconductor automatic test equipment business. It was spun off from Agilent Technologies in 2006...
and LTXC agreed on a merger/acquisition operation, the new company will be operated under Verigy name.
On March 27,2011 the merger agreement with Verigy was terminated as Verigy accepted a merger offer from Advantest. LTXC decided to remain a stand-alone company.
Credence System’s remaining principal competitors in the ATE business are:
- AdvantestAdvantestis a leading manufacturer of automatic test equipment for the semiconductor industry, and a manufacturer of measuring instruments used in the design, production and maintenance of electronic systems including fiber optic and wireless communications equipment and digital consumer products...
- TeradyneTeradyneTeradyne , a US company, is a supplier of automatic test equipment . The company's divisions Semiconductor Test and Systems Test Group, are organized by the products they develop and deliver.-History:...
- VerigyVerigyVerigy Ltd is an Advantest Group company in the semiconductor automatic test equipment business. It was spun off from Agilent Technologies in 2006...
(formerly a division of Hewlett-PackardHewlett-PackardHewlett-Packard Company or HP is an American multinational information technology corporation headquartered in Palo Alto, California, USA that provides products, technologies, softwares, solutions and services to consumers, small- and medium-sized businesses and large enterprises, including...
and then Agilent TechnologiesAgilent TechnologiesAgilent Technologies , or Agilent, is a company that designs and manufactures electronic and bio-analytical measurement instruments and equipment for measurement and evaluation...
)