Below is what founders and hardware teams must get right — and how Globetek’s 30+ years of expertise in IC sockets and temperature forcing systems can help them do it faster.
Why this matters now
India’s semiconductor ecosystem is at a turning point.
With major investment in chip design, testing, and manufacturing, Indian startups are stepping into deep-tech territory like never before. But one hidden bottleneck continues to delay launch: poor planning around semiconductor testing — particularly around IC socket selection and temperature forcing systems.
At Globetek, we’ve spent over three decades helping global and Indian clients avoid that mistake. If you’re leading a hardware team or building in the semiconductor space in India, this 2025 checklist is your testing north star – this blog breaks down what your 2025 testing checklist should look like — from early design to final compliance.
1. Map your test strategy from day one
Semiconductor testing isn’t a post-design activity. It starts with your architecture decisions — including IC socket selection.
If you’re building high-frequency, high-power, or automotive-grade ICs, choosing the right burn-in socket or high-performance test socket is critical. The socket impacts everything from thermal resistance to electrical performance — and it directly affects what kind of temperature forcing system you’ll need for accurate characterization.
Many validation challenges don’t stem from design flaws but from poor test repeatability: signal drift after thermal cycling, degraded contact after 100+ insertions, thermal lag due to mismatched sockets and airflow profiles. That’s why your socket and thermal forcing decisions must be aligned from the start.
Staggered testing across temperature, mechanical stress, and rework conditions helps surface issues earlier. For instance, we’ve seen success with teams that test devices at cold start-up, then again post-thermal cycle, and again after 100+ socket insertions.
At Globetek, we guide clients through this early-stage planning — ensuring their ICs are testable, scalable, and compliant from day one.
Tip: Always match your socket type to your package size, pitch, and test frequency. Don’t leave this to your test engineer alone.
Why it matters: Socket compatibility issues are one of the most common late-stage blockers in validation workflows.
2. Simulate real-world stress — not just lab conditions
You shouldn’t be testing if your prototype works. You should be testing how well it handles worst-case conditions.
- Run functional tests at different temperature extremes. Devices rarely operate at room temperature alone.
- Test after mechanical stress events (insertion/removal cycles, drop, vibration).
- Use socket designs that support multiple reinsertions without degrading signal or contact quality.
Automotive, industrial, and edge computing applications all push thermal limits. But in many test labs, thermal validation still happens late — sometimes after the layout is locked.
Portable temperature forcing systems, such as those by Intest Thermal, offer a way to simulate field conditions with precise control. Systems like their Thermostream series enable hot and cold airflow directly to the DUT, covering a wide temperature range without a large environmental chamber footprint.
Its precision-controlled thermal streams cycle your ICs from -60°C to +200°C within seconds — simulating real-world stress across EV, consumer, and industrial use cases.
Additionally, a typical JEDEC lab test may not reveal how your IC performs at 125°C during power cycling. For high-density or high-frequency applications, elastomer-based and spring-pin sockets have proven reliable in both lab and production environments. Their low-insertion force and consistent performance under multiple cycles reduce wear and maintain signal integrity.
Ask yourself: Will your chip survive a Delhi summer inside a sealed device drawing 4W of power?
Why it matters: Thermal stress can reveal issues not visible during functional or signal integrity tests.
3. Prioritize test coverage over test speed
Different packages. Different use cases. Different stresses. But too many teams still run all tests the same way.
- Run burn-in, thermal cycling, and signal integrity tests separately.
- Adjust temperature ramp rates and soak times based on your component class and application — especially for mission-critical domains like automotive or aerospace. Read here for more on how to choose the right temperature forcing system for your application.
Rushing through testing phases can lead to overlooked issues that manifest post-deployment. To ensure thorough validation:
Conduct Accelerated Life Testing: Employ thermal cycling and stress tests to identify potential failure points. For instance, Intest Thermal’s temperature forcing systems are designed for such rigorous testing, ensuring devices can withstand real-world conditions.
Leverage Custom IC Test Sockets: Custom sockets, like Ironwood Electronics, provide exceptional thermal performance, crucial for high-reliability applications.
When you compromise on socket quality or thermal profiling, you risk product failures post-launch. We’ve seen it happen with teams that went with low-cost IC sockets that couldn’t handle repeated thermal cycles.
Lesson: Speed is good, but accurate coverage across temperature, electrical, and mechanical stress is better.
Tip: Use thermocouples or infrared imaging to validate test setup consistency, not just equipment setpoints.
4. Choose a test partner — not just a test house
Most labs run the same JEDEC tests. But how many can help you optimize socket selection, advise on thermal forcing setups, and accelerate your path to compliance?
Globetek has done this across semiconductors, EV modules, and high-reliability consumer electronics. We’ve partnered with startups and scale-ups to be more than just a service provider — we’re part of their hardware success team.
For example, we recently supported a startup working on a high-density sensor for automotive ADAS (Advanced Driver-Assistance Systems). Their internal lab struggled with contact reliability across temperature. Our team worked closely with them to:
- Swap their pogo-pin socket for a high-cycle elastomer-based one
- Reconfigure their thermal forcing setup for tighter airflow control at the DUT
- Catch a latent failure that would’ve derailed their AEC-Q100 qualification
By going beyond the spec sheet and understanding real-world application demands, we saved them weeks of debugging and helped them meet their milestone on time.
India’s fabless and deep-tech ecosystem is growing — but for startups especially, the difference between “tested” and “validated” can mean product-market failure or success. A true partner doesn’t just test your chip; they stress it, simulate its future, and help you build a product that lasts.
The bottom line: Great products deserve smarter testing
If you’re building high-reliability products in India, you can’t afford to treat sockets and temperature forcing systems as afterthoughts.
We’ve helped test devices for everything from smartphones, vehicles to satellites — across India’s growing ecosystem of labs, fabs, and R&D centers.
- IC sockets for every package — BGA, QFN, LGA, custom, high-frequency.
- Temperature forcing systems that simulate real conditions — down to the last thermal gradient.
- Support that doesn’t stop at the box — we work with your engineers to get your prototype ready.
We’ve spent three decades helping teams get it right. Let’s make sure your testing is a launchpad — not a delay.
As India builds its silicon future, success will hinge on how well we test — not just how fast we design.
At Globetek, we’ve seen what works. And we help you build what lasts.
If you’re planning a test strategy that scales with your product, we’d love to help. Talk to our team here
