STELA 85

The STELA 85 is a linear integrated circuit testing equipment made by IPRS Băneasa, a new version of the STELA [1].

The I.P.R.S. Băneasa Full Line Condensed Catalog (1990) presents it as dedicated to the testing and sorting of linear integrated circuits: operational amplifiers, 8-bit D/A converters, comparators and voltage regulators; other IC types can be tested as well, since the measure-head can be hard programmed to control external power supplies, frequency generators, digital multimeters etc. [1]. The system has three main parts: the HC 85 computer (Sinclair-Spectrum compatible) with the INTERDIG 85 digital interface, the STELA analog interface, and the measure-head dedicated to one or more integrated circuits [1].

The HC 85 home computer, with 64 kB of memory, is provided with a 5¼-inch floppy-disk drive and a ROBOTRON miniprinter; it controls the STELA analog interface through the INTERDIG 85 digital interface, which is fully compatible with the HP 98032A interface [1]. The software consists of IC test programs, a system autotest program (for which the autotest measure-head must be used) and computer controlled PCB test programs; the IC test programs are offered in BASIC, with a one-test time of about 0.5 s (up to 300 pcs/hr for a 741 IC type), or in PASCAL, with up to 10 times time saving [1].

The STELA interface contains fixed power supplies for all the STELA and measure-head PCBs, the INTERDIG 85 connection buffers, an analog buffered PCB and all the computer controlled PCBs; a final sorting mechanism can be connected to it [1]. The measure-head, dedicated to one or more integrated circuits, contains the final test configurations, relays and a „zero insertion force” socket, and can be hard programmed for many other IC types [1].