Seica PILOT Flying Probe Test Systems

Seica S.p.A. is an Italian automatic test equipment maker founded in 1986 and based in Strambino near Turin, with an affiliated company in Suzhou, China. It was the first European company to design and build a flying probe tester, a machine that tests printed circuit boards with moving probes instead of fixed bed-of-nails fixtures.

The PILOT range includes the PILOT VX and VX XL, the PILOT VX HR for probe card testing, the vertical double-sided PILOT V8 and the PILOT H4. All systems run the common VIVA software on the Seica VIP platform, which covers in-circuit and functional tests, optical inspection, thermal analysis, boundary scan, power-on functional test and on-board programming, as well as repair and reverse engineering. An Industry 4.0 monitoring option tracks machine conditions for predictive maintenance. Users span automotive, e-mobility, aerospace, telecom, medical and EMS.

• PILOT VX and VX XL: flying probe testers, part of the new OPERA Series, for large boards.
• PILOT VX HR: flying probe platform for probe card, MLO and PCB testing with high-resolution cameras.
• PILOT V8: vertical tester that probes both sides of the board simultaneously.
• VIVA software: common environment from simple ICT to functional tests on all PILOT systems.
• Extended test: optical inspection, thermal analysis, boundary scan and on-board programming.
• Industry 4.0 monitoring: tracks current, voltage, temperature and indicators for predictive maintenance.

An EMS plant in Vietnam producing many low-volume board types can test new products without building fixtures. An automotive electronics supplier can combine ICT, boundary scan and optical checks on one machine. A semiconductor test supplier can verify probe cards and multilayer substrates.

Boards can be tested without dedicated bed-of-nails fixtures, which cuts fixture cost and lead time for new products and small batches. The VX platform is claimed to reduce cycle times by up to 50%. Double-sided probing on the V8 tests both sides of a board at once. One software environment covers ICT, functional, optical and boundary-scan tests, and repair.

High-mix electronics production, shorter product cycles and denser boards favour fixtureless test methods such as flying probe. As automotive, e-mobility and industrial electronics production shifts toward Southeast Asia, EMS plants in Vietnam need flexible test equipment that handles frequent product changes and meets automotive quality demands.

Seica S.p.A. was founded in 1986, with headquarters at Via Kennedy 24, Strambino (TO), Italy. Affiliates include Seica Electronics Suzhou in China. It exhibits regularly at Productronica China, IPC APEX Expo and other electronics manufacturing shows.