Management Of Placement Machine Suppliers

ATE programming potentially locks in a vendor's programmable components. Since ATE requires careful PCB design and dedicated software to be able to meet each different PIC usage, the resulting component changes can be very costly and time consuming. A set of protocol methods with intellectual property allows several semiconductor suppliers to work together to form a form of programmable device.

The method provided by IEEE 1149.1 boundary scan programming has great flexibility, it allows to mix components provided by different semiconductor suppliers on the same PCB. However, automated programming equipment can do these things with maximum flexibility. With regular device support for thousands of PIC devices from various suppliers, they have the flexibility to keep pace with changing customer needs.