Kingston Granted U.S. Patent on Burn-In Tester

[Apoptosis]

I missed this press release! It is pretty interesting read though so I'm posting it a few days late. For those of you who don't know Kingston makes memory modules and tests them using burn-in testers that they make and design. It is obvious that not all companies can do this, but as the 3 Billion dollar industry leader Kingston can!

Fountain Valley, CA – (July 26, 2005), Kingston® Technology Company, Inc., the independent world leader in memory products, today announced it has been granted a U.S. Patent (Number 6,910,162 B2), on its KT2400 Dynamic Burn-in Tester. This proprietary testing platform is designed to detect early-life failures (ELF) in server memory modules, taking quality assurance to a new level of excellence.

Originally intended as a tester for server memory modules, the Kingston KT2400 tester can be adapted to test a wide variety of memory module standards.

“We’re delighted at winning the patent for the KT2400,” said Dr. Ramon Co, VP, Worldwide Test Engineering, Kingston and co-inventor of the KT2400 tester. “In the early stages of designing the KT2400, our mission was to create a tester that would put modules through the most stringent battery of tests, simulating the most demanding server environments,” continued Dr. Co. “The most common type of memory reliability failure is Early-Life Failure (ELF) which is defined as a failure that occurs during the first three months of normal operation. Our goal was to design a tester that would simulate the ELF period and weed out any marginal modules,” added Dr. Co.

KT2400 Burn-In Testing Results

Using specially designed testing boards called Advanced Pattern Testing Controllers, each KT2400 tester can test up to 500 modules simultaneously. During the testing process, server modules are subjected to a high-heat, high-stress and high-voltage environment with all memory cells continuously exercised for a specified period of time. The testing process accelerates the life of the modules thereby simulating three months of normal operation. Hence, marginal modules that would otherwise fail in the field are screened in the factory prior to shipment.

Additional information about the KT2400 tester is available on the Kingston Web site at http://www.kingston.com/branded/server_memory.asp.

About Kingston Technology Company, Inc.
Founded in 1987, Kingston Technology Company, Inc. is the world’s largest independent manufacturer of memory and digital media products. Kingston operates manufacturing facilities in Malaysia, Taiwan, China and Fountain Valley, Calif. Kingston’s back-end processing facility supports memory test and logistics. Kingston supports all memory processing functions from receipt of wafer to completed module. Kingston serves a network of distributors, OEMs, and retail customers in more than 3,000 locations worldwide. For more information on Kingston, call (800) 337-8410, or go to Kingston.com.

[killswitch83]

well, now all they have to do is somehow make it available to the computer building public, at least in a consumer-friendly version with a consumer-friendly price; it would be an invaluable asset to us indeed