{"id":12260,"date":"2026-05-05T19:57:10","date_gmt":"2026-05-05T19:57:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/introspect.ca\/blog\/create-shmoo-plots-in-seconds-and-right-at-your-desk\/"},"modified":"2026-05-05T19:57:10","modified_gmt":"2026-05-05T19:57:10","slug":"create-shmoo-plots-in-seconds-and-right-at-your-desk","status":"publish","type":"blogposts","link":"https:\/\/introspect.ca\/fr\/blog\/create-shmoo-plots-in-seconds-and-right-at-your-desk\/","title":{"rendered":"Create Shmoo Plots in Seconds and Right at Your Desk"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the semiconductor industry, shmoo plots have become an indispensable tool for assessing the health of a device under test (DUT), for tracking process variations and analyzing manufacturing yield, and for client-specific characterization and speed binning. Traditionally, in order to obtain shmoo plots, engineers had to use large automatic test equipment (ATE) that has been designed primarily for production testing and not for engineering or characterization tasks. This has resulted in multiple challenges related to availability of equipment and also cost of the equipment. In this article, we describe how Introspect\u2019s M Series<\/a> makes obtaining shmoo plots easier than ever. But first, let us introduce the concept of the shmoo and how it is used.<\/p>\n

What Is a Shmoo Plot?<\/h2>\n

Referring to Figure 1, a shmoo plot is a tool for visualizing multidimensional data. In a typical semiconductor context, it is a tool to distinguish between test conditions (parameter values) under which a test run result is a \u201cPass\u201d and other conditions under which a test run result is a \u201cFail\u201d. The nature of the test in this case is completely irrelevant, and the shmoo is only intended to rapidly identify the parameter values that move a DUT from passing to failing a particular test. For example, in Figure 1, a test that was executed at 250 ps Jitter Amplitude and 4 MHz Jitter Frequency has passed, whereas the same test at 250 ps Jitter Amplitude and 9 MHz Jitter Frequency has failed.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Figure 1:<\/strong> Example of a Shmoo plot.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

In general, the following characteristics are needed for a Shmoo tool to be useful:<\/p>\n