A vendor of high-end test and measurement equipment for the semiconductor fabrication market has switched to Linux. Keithley Instruments said its S600 Series Parametric Test Systems are more stable and have a longer service life, now that their embedded control computer runs Linux instead of Solaris.

(Click for larger view of Keithley's S600 system)

Keithley's S600 systems are typically used to test silicon wafers in a semiconductor fabrication/manufacturing environment, Keithley said. The systems are said to support “all major wafer probes.”

The S600 systems formerly came with a Sun V240 workstation running Solaris. Now, the company supplies the systems with a new x86-based control computer running Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL), WS version 4, update 4, it says.

S680 system architecture
The Sun Solaris controller is being replaced by a Linux-based unit
(Click to enlarge)

Keithley says its new controller can interoperate seamlessly with older parametric test systems running Solaris; however, customers wishing to move to a “100 percent Linux test floor” may purchase a field upgrade for their older equipment, the company said.

Availability

Keithley is offering price quotes now, and expects to deliver new Linux-powered S600 Series systems and field upgrades in September.

 
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