One of the big questions that my kids haaskve is, "Daddy, what do you do at work?"

Since work seems to occupy a lot of the time that could be used for playing with them at home, they figure that it must be important and that they should be able to understand it.

So far, I have been able to get point one across. And that isn’t bad when you consider that Julia is four years old and Rex is seven.

Getting the kids to understand semiconductor component test as a function that needs doing is a different matter entirely. My kids really don’t have even a vague understanding of what I have worked on for the last twenty-three years.

If you’ve spent a lot of time working on test, your kids probably don’t either.

What does this have to do with anything?

Well, consider that most adults don’t understand what semiconductor test is all about. Then think of how many design engineers in your company still have only a vague notion of what we take care of in the salt mines of testing.

Now, move along to other groups of professionals that work on or near your finished and tested components, and see what kinds of opinions you get when you ask them about component test.

What you’ll find is that there are a lot fewer people in your company who actually understand overall testing definitions, goals, objectives and expectations than you might have imagined.

Why does this matter?

Isn’t this just some sort of job security, whereby some of us are Keepers of the Grand Notion of Test?

The answer is no, of course. Have you forgotten that the top executives in your company don’t understand test either?

If you don’t make sure that they have at least a working knowledge of what you’re doing, you may not get to do it as long as you would like.

Remember, most top managers think that once the silicon is fabricated, the hard part is over. They believe that testing is just an overhead expense!

The damage that this lack of visibility creates is that it allows the key decision makers at your company to under-investunder-invest in test method research while feeling good about it. Not only does this make for a boring workplace, but itit also means that virtually all test decisions are made under only the most extreme pressures of first silicon shipments or volume production demands.

This is not an environment in which to advance the state-of-the-artstate of the art. Use the chart below to decide just how bad the situation is at your work place.

Of course, we can determine from the above quadrant analysis that quadrant four is the worst position. If your boss, co-workerco-worker or customer is a quadrant four candidate, you are going to get wrong advice that you will need to honor or humor.

The solution? Figure out where your boss and others should be placed on the chart. Then start to graduallygradually to give them bits and pieces of information about how testing is more than the bottleneck at the end of the production process.

Test is where the fastest are separated from the merely fast. Test is the step where flash memories get verified, analyzed, repaired and trimmed.

It is where they become memory devices. Test is a value-added step. If you are successful in your personal marketing campaign now, I guarantee that you will have an easier time of it during budget season.