This interview features Scott Bulbrook, President of DA-Integrated.
Can you describe your company’s founding vision and how it has evolved to address the changing landscape of the semiconductor industry?
DA-Integrated was founded to address a gap in the industry concerning the availability of test development services for leading-edge Application Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs). Our vision includes a strong emphasis on close collaboration with customer design teams. We pride ourselves on our deep understanding of their product-specific requirements, ensuring that we deliver highly customized solutions tailored to our customers’ needs.
The performance of leading-edge ASIC designs always outpaces traditional Automated Test Equipment (ATE) capabilities, and so the need for unique test solutions continues to grow. With success and ongoing acceptance of our approach, we have expanded our offering to include related services including Test Related Design Services, New Product Introduction Services and Volume Production Testing.
What core technological capabilities and innovations differentiate your company and position you for future success in the semiconductor market?
DA-Integrated core technological capability lies in our ability to deliver highly specialized test solutions for leading-edge ASICs. Our deep understanding of test development, combined with our ability to collaborate closely with customer design teams, positions us as a trusted partner in the semiconductor industry. In addition to influencing device architecture to enable test, we offer design services pertaining to test related circuits, we also feature expertise in test hardware development including test specific circuitry, and integration of external instruments to an ATE based solution. Our continuous innovation in test solution deployment ensures that we can meet the increasingly complex demands of modern semiconductor designs. These capabilities set us apart, positioning us for continued success as the industry evolves.
Beyond your current product portfolio, what emerging technologies are you actively researching or developing, and what are the potential applications and market opportunities?
We consider a test solution to extend beyond just the test system. Advanced hardware, on-chip test circuitry, specialized test development techniques, enhanced software approaches, test hardware circuitry, external instrumentation, and sophisticated data processing are all typical elements of our specialized test solutions. We are constantly innovating, improving, and refining our expertise in deploying these technologies and bringing them to bear on leading edge ASICs.
How does your company’s culture and organizational structure support innovation and adaptation to rapid technological advancements?
DA-Integrated culture is built around collaboration, continuous learning, and a commitment to innovation. Our “inverted org chart” shows our customers and their requirements at the top of the page. Our execution team reports directly to them. Management is shown at the bottom of the page, referred to as our “support layer”, providing our team with the resources necessary to deploy our unique solutions. This organizational structure fosters open communication and allows for rapid decision-making, enabling us to support our customers with the most innovative solutions as the semiconductor industry evolves.
Which market segments or applications do you see as having the greatest potential for growth in the next 5-10 years, and what is your company’s strategy to capitalize on these opportunities?
The demand for ASICs across a range of applications continues to grow. They are not just for cost reduction or miniaturization; they enable performance and functionality in electronic systems that would otherwise be impossible. Highly specialized interfaces to sensors, ultra-high frequencies, ultra-low power, specialized embedded circuits requiring internal BIST engines, high power, are all examples of features that drive the need for an ASIC while simultaneously creating test challenges.
Founded in 2002, DA-Integrated supported customer ASIC development, driving advancements in areas like computing and digital communications. Over the years, we have played a key role in the expansion of wireless technology, cloud storage, and optical communications. Today, we remain at the forefront, enabling cutting-edge innovations in emerging applications like low-orbit satellites, advanced medical technologies, and AI.
As a critical part of the ecosystem for development of advanced ASICs, DA-Integrated continues to push the boundaries of test development with innovative solutions. We are proud to be the world’s leading provider of these specialized services, ensuring that cutting-edge designs can be successfully tested and brought to the market.
What emerging technologies (e.g., AI, quantum computing, advanced packaging) will have the most significant impact on the semiconductor industry, and how is your company preparing to integrate these advancements?
At any moment in time, the most advanced and most appropriate technology available for inclusion in a semiconductor test solution is the wafer fabrication technology being used by the ASIC in question. With every new process node or IC technology, creating a stimulus to enable test, specifically measuring performance, enabling access for efficient and thorough test, and bridging the disciplines of IC design and test software development are all elements of an advanced test solution. It begins and ends with the device itself.
What are your predictions for the evolution of semiconductor manufacturing processes and architectures in the next decade?
We expect that shrinking process nodes will continue to provide significant advantages, but also challenges in all disciplines, including test. Overtaking new process nodes in importance, we are observing more integration of CMOS logic with other fabrication technologies like photonics, mixed technology process nodes, and advanced packaging. We look forward to the continued trend of custom semiconductor devices being included in almost every aspect of our lives, providing overall stability to the semiconductor industry and keeping DA-Integrated relevant for many years to come.
What role do you see your company playing in shaping the future of the semiconductor industry, and what are your key initiatives to achieve this vision?
In addition to the significant technology challenges in the semiconductor industry, we are also witnessing a shift in management and collaborative approaches driven by the increase in team size and increasing levels of specialization in specific disciplines. One interesting aspect of semiconductor testing is its close connection to so many other areas. Disciplines like design, verification, and validation more obviously overlap with test. We also find ourselves increasingly working directly with people depending on data created by production test in disciplines like foundry relations, packaging and backend processing, product engineering, reliability, operations, planning, and even finance. We quite often find ourselves enabling our customers to have internal discussions during regular project meetings with DA-Integrated test developers.
What are your strategies for attracting and retaining top talent to support your long-term technological vision?
DA-Integrated has a strong history of attracting and retaining top talent. Our founding team is still with us, and for most of our employees, DA-Integrated is the longest tenure in their careers. The reason for our success is simple; we provide our team with the opportunity to work on unique and challenging projects that push the boundaries of innovation, and ensure our team has the support they need and access to the most advanced tools to be successful.
What strategic partnerships or collaborations are crucial to your company’s success in navigating the future of the semiconductor industry?
In addition to collaborating closely with our customer design teams, we maintain excellent relationships with our suppliers for ATE and ATE hardware. These strategic partnerships are crucial to our success, as they provide us with a thorough understanding of the design and manufacturing details for instruments, loadboards, probecards, sockets, and other critical components of test solutions. This insight enables us to deliver the best possible solutions to our customers, helping them stay at the forefront of the semiconductor industry.
