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Bum-in test is one for eliminating semiconductor devices that are subject to early failures and other operational problems; it is usually carried out on the devices by imposing severe test conditions such as elevated voltages, temperatures, and time. In order for such a test to be performed, each burn-in board having devices to be tested, needs to be inserted into a corresponding slot. A set of such slots is called a zone. The slots comprising a zone can only have the burn-in boards with the devices of the same type. In order to test many different types of semiconductor devices, it is desirable to build a burn-in test system to have as many zones as possible. A zone controller controlling a zone, is a device that performs a burn-in test and collects test results. In case of existing systems, each zone controller takes care of a zone that consists of a fixed number of slots. Since a zone controller is, in most cases, embedded into a workstation that controls the overall testing process, adding new zone controllers is restricted by the spaces for them. As a way to solve or alleviate these problems, a dynamic zone system in which the number of slots in a zone can be dynamically allocated, is presented. This system maximizes the efficiency of system utilization, by altering the number of slots and hence minimizing the idle slots of a zone. In addition, all the test operations being performed must be aborted for maintenance in existing systems. In dynamic zone systems, however, a separate and independent maintenance is allowed for each slot, as long as the main power supply system has no problem. |
