Test Equipment Division

Capital Equipment and Services
Group

Bare PCB
Capital Equipment and Services

The Everett Charles Capital Equipment and Services Group manufactures automatic test equipment and test software for testing bare printed circuit boards. The Group was formed in 1993 to focus on the continued development and marketing of innovative bareboard electrical test equipment and technology in keeping with the tradition of its predecessors, EC Test and Trace Instruments.

Shortly after the formation of this new Group, ECT introduced the 9090 Series Test System which was enthusiastically received by the marketplace and became the overwhelming market share leader. The tester's high performance was made possible by applying totally new switchcard technology and software enhancements which dramatically improved electrical measurement speed without sacrificing the 9090's legendary measurement accuracy. Reduced mechanical cycle time, and a variety of modular options were added to yield greater system flexibility. As bare board technology became more complex, ECT was challenged to test increasingly dense PCBs. In 1998, a double density universal grid tester was introduced. The 9098 Series features double density on both top and bottom grids in a true 70 mil pattern. The sleek, ergonomic style utilizes proven "C" frame architecture for high throughput and test product size flexibility.

Also introduced in 1998 was the Eclipse™, a new generation linear flying prober ideal for ultra fine pitch testing and satisfying quick turn requirements.

1999 brought the introduction of ScanMan™, a fully automated, high-volume test system for 100% electrical test of flip chip carriers. The addition of Luther Maelzer in 1997 and atg in 1998 further strengthened ECT's commitment to Bare Board Test products.

To compliment the test capabilities of the Capital Equipment and Services Group, ECT expanded their services to include software. This capability was expanded with the purchase of Circuitest. This combining of resources resulted in the creation of Magic Suite™, a comprehensive test software solution that brings a flexible and useful array of software tools to interconnect substrate test. This collection of software modules is designed to integrate the test data process to the CAM process by consolidating fixture generation, test program and repair file generation into one platform.

The Capital Equipment and Services Group is headquartered in Pomona, CA, and markets and supports automatic bare board test equipment worldwide.

ECT engineers marketing specialists are available to contribute to technical articles and features on bare board test and fixturing technologies, special applications and industry trends.