Aehr Receives $7.6 Million Order for WaferPak™ Full Wafer Contactors to Support Wafer Level Test and Burn-in of Silicon Carbide Power Devices for Electric Vehicles

FREMONT, Calif., Nov. 03, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Aehr Test Systems (NASDAQ: AEHR), a worldwide supplier of semiconductor test and reliability qualification equipment, today announced it has received a $7.6 million order from its lead silicon carbide test and burn-in customer for WaferPak™ full wafer Contactors to meet their increased production capacity needs. These WaferPaks are scheduled to be delivered over the next five months to accompany the FOX-XP systems previously ordered by this customer announced in September. Like the FOX-XP systems order, this order also includes down payments to lock in pricing and lead times.

Gayn Erickson, President and CEO of Aehr Test Systems, commented, “These WaferPak Contactors accompany the previous $19 million order for FOX-XP production test systems from this customer to meet their capacity needs for testing silicon carbide devices used for power conversion in on-board and off-board electric vehicle chargers, as well as the traction inverters used in electric vehicle motor controllers. This customer, who is a leading Fortune 500 supplier of semiconductor devices with a significant customer base in the automotive semiconductor market, also expects demand for silicon carbide in other major markets, including home electric storage and solar power conversion.

“This order is for about two thirds of the WaferPaks needed to match the capacity of the FOX-XP systems this customer previously ordered, and we expect them to order additional WaferPaks to accompany the systems that are scheduled to be shipped over the next seven months. In addition to their forecast for additional WaferPaks this fiscal year, this customer forecasts significant additional system and WaferPak purchases, reflecting the growing demand for silicon carbide devices for electric vehicle and other applications that multiple industry forecasters and analysts expect to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of more than 30% over the next decade. 

“Our proprietary WaferPaks feature patented technology that enable our FOX-XP systems to make electrical and thermal contact to all the devices on the wafer at the same time in a portable contactor cassette without the need for an expensive wafer prober per wafer. The WaferPak and FOX-XP test system allows us to ensure that every device gets the targeted electrical and thermal burn-in conditions throughout the test and burn-in cycle and enables the customer to monitor and validate with 100% confidence that each device was tested and burned in properly.

“Every device is independently monitored on our FOX system, and key parametric measurements including voltages and currents are logged to determine exactly if and when a device fails during the burn-in cycle. This provides our customers with extremely valuable data to improve their manufacturing process and yield, and also enables them to remove weak devices before they are put into multi-die modules and single die discrete packages in the traction inverters and on-board chargers in electric vehicles. This is an enormously valuable capability, as it allows our customers to screen devices that would otherwise fail after they are packaged into multi-die modules, where the yield impact is 10 times or even 100 times as costly.

“Our FOX-XP systems and WaferPaks not only support 150mm diameter silicon carbide wafers shipping in volume today, but also the future 200mm wafers planned to be introduced over the next several years that are on most companies’ roadmaps.

“A report from Deloitte forecasts that the total electric vehicle industry will likely grow at a CAGR of 29% from 2020 to 2025, before reaching 31.1 million vehicles by 2030 and securing approximately 32% of the total market share for new car sales. And a research report from Canaccord Genuity dated this past September estimates that the total silicon carbide device market demand will reach over $40 billion by 2030, with automotive applications representing $21 billion of the total addressable market (TAM). These stats highlight the tremendous opportunity Aehr Test has in front of it with its wafer level test and burn-in solution for electric vehicle semiconductors.”

For more information on Aehr’s wafer level test and burn-in solutions for silicon carbide devices, please contact Aehr Test Systems’ EVP of Sales & Marketing, Vernon Rogers.

The FOX-XP system, available with multiple WaferPak Contactors (full wafer test) or multiple DiePak™ Carriers (singulated die/module test) configurations, is capable of functional test and burn-in/cycling of integrated devices such as silicon carbide (SiC) power devices, silicon photonics as well as other optical devices, 2D and 3D sensors, flash memories, Gallium Nitride (GaN), magnetic sensors, microcontrollers, and other leading-edge ICs in either wafer formfactor, before they are assembled into single or multi-die stacked packages, or in singulated die or module form factor.

About Aehr Test Systems

Headquartered in Fremont, California, Aehr Test Systems is a worldwide provider of test systems for burning-in and testing logic, optical and memory integrated circuits and has installed over 2,500 systems worldwide. Increased quality and reliability needs of the Automotive and Mobility integrated circuit markets are driving additional test requirements, incremental capacity needs, and new opportunities for Aehr Test products in package, wafer level, and singulated die/module level test. Aehr Test has developed and introduced several innovative products, including the ABTS™ and FOX-P™ families of test and burn-in systems and FOX WaferPak™ Aligner, FOX-XP WaferPak Contactor, FOX DiePak^® Carrier and FOX DiePak Loader. The ABTS system is used in production and qualification testing of packaged parts for both lower power and higher power logic devices as well as all common types of memory devices. The FOX-XP and FOX-NP systems are full wafer contact and singulated die/module test and burn-in systems used for burn-in and functional test of complex devices, such as leading-edge memories, digital signal processors, microprocessors, microcontrollers, systems-on-a-chip, and integrated optical devices. The FOX-CP system is a new low-cost single-wafer compact test and reliability verification solution for logic, memory and photonic devices and the newest addition to the FOX-P product family. The WaferPak contactor contains a unique full wafer probe card capable of testing wafers up to 300mm that enables IC manufacturers to perform test and burn-in of full wafers on Aehr Test FOX systems. The DiePak Carrier is a reusable, temporary package that enables IC manufacturers to perform cost-effective final test and burn-in of both bare die and modules. For more information, please visit Aehr Test Systems’ website at www.aehr.com.

Safe Harbor Statement

This press release contains certain forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Forward-looking statements generally relate to future events or Aehr’s future financial or operating performance. In some cases, you can identify forward-looking statements because they contain words such as "may," "will," "should," "expects," "plans," "anticipates,” “going to,” "could," "intends," "target," "projects," "contemplates," "believes," "estimates," "predicts," "potential," or "continue," or the negative of these words or other similar terms or expressions that concern Aehr’s expectations, strategy, priorities, plans, or intentions. Forward-looking statements in this press release include, but are not limited to, future requirements and orders of Aehr’s new and existing customers; bookings forecasted for proprietary WaferPak™ and DiePak consumables; and expectations related to long-term demand for Aehr’s productions and the attractiveness of key markets. The forward-looking statements contained in this press release are also subject to other risks and uncertainties, including those more fully described in Aehr’s recent Form 10-K, 10-Q and other reports filed from time to time with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Aehr disclaims any obligation to update information contained in any forward-looking statement to reflect events or circumstances occurring after the date of this press release.

Contacts:
Aehr Test Systems	MKR Investor Relations Inc.
Vernon Rogers	Todd Kehrli or Jim Byers
EVP of Sales & Marketing	Analyst/Investor Contact
(510) 623-9400 x215	(213) 277-5550
vrogers@aehr.com	aehr@mkr-group.com