(iTers News) - Leading semiconductor test equipment supplier Advantest Corporation today introduced its new T2000 8GWGD instrument, incorporating an 8-giga-samples-per-second (Gsps) waveform generator and an 8 GHz digitizer into a module for testing system-on-chip (SoC) devices used in mass-storage devices, including hard disk drives (HDDs).

"Advantest has long dominated the SoC test market, testing more than half of the SoCs being manufactured today," said Hans-Juergen Wagner, senior vice president, SoC Business Group at Advantest Corporation. "With this new tester, we are providing a solution for the fast-growing cloud computing market, which uses billions of HDDs to run massive server farms around the world."

The T2000 platform, configured with the 8GWGD (8Gsps Waveform Generator / 8GHz Digitizer Module) and 8GDM (8Gbps Digital Module), can handle fast SerDes PHY-layer interfaces and complex, high-speed analog waveform challenges typically found in mass-storage SoCs.

Using an Arbitrary Wave Generator (AWG), Advantest's new module can source complex signals such as Partial Response Maximum Likelihood (PRML) waveforms and multi-tone waveforms with a wide range of frequencies for high-speed analog-to-digital converters and analog front-end devices including preamplifiers. A unique feature is the gate output, which can be synchronized with the AWG to achieve high-precision timing.

The new module's signal-capture digitizer is capable of enhancing system throughput and performing high-bandwidth analog measurements. Moreover, it provides test solutions for eye-diagram, rise/fall time and time propagation delay measurements as well as cycle-to-cycle and long-time jitter. This enables testing of high-speed digital-to-analog converters and preamplifiers as well as fast digital-interface and phase-locked loop (PLL) devices.