Conclusions and Summary#

As you can see from the descriptions of each test phase within this document, the recommended tests and test flow are different when comparing characterization testing with manufacturing testing.

The following table lists the test recommendations by phase and Table : Comparison of Test Phases on page 16 compares the test phases.

Note: In the following table, C denotes tests recommended for characterization testing, L denotes tests recommended for low-volume manufacturing testing, and H denotes tests recommended for high-volume manufacturing.

Test Run? Channel
Mid Low
Mid
High
Subset All
Serial Communication CLH
Supply Current CLH CLH
Transmit/Receive Verify CLH CLH
Transmit Power CL L C
Transmit Frequency Offset CL L C
Transmit EVM C C
Transmit Sweep CL L C
Spurious Emissions CL
Receive Sweep CL L C
Receive Sensitivity CLH LH C
Receive Waterfall C C
RSSI CL CL
External 32kHz Crystal CLH
Peripherals CLH

Comparison of Test Phases

Step

Characterization

Manufacturing Low-Volume

Manufacturing High-Volume

Program bootloader (if applicable)

Functional Test

Functional Test or Preconfigured

Preconfigured

Program/load test application

Functional Test

Functional Test or Preconfigured

Standalone/Test Mode within application

Load stack information

Functional Test

Functional Test or Preconfigured

Preconfigured

Load manufacturing Information

Functional Test

Functional Test

Golden Node application

Load application information

Functional Test

Functional Test

Preconfigured

Verify DUT operation

Functional Test

Functional Test

Golden Node application

Program/load production application

Functional Test

Functional Test

Preconfigured

In the characterization phase of testing, all programming and configuration steps can be automated to occur within the test itself. In the low-volume manufacturing phase, some of these steps can be done before actual manufacturing. For example, the device can be preconfigured with the appropriate bootloader and/or test application. In the case of high-volume manufacturing, the test functions can be included in the production application as a test mode or a standalone test application can be used. The Golden Node application can be developed by the customer to configure the appropriate unique manufacturing information for each DUT.