Patent ID: 8198909

Claim:
A tester apparatus, comprising: an electrical tester for connection through contacts to a plurality of terminals of at least one substrate carrying at least one integrated circuit and having the terminals connected to the integrated circuit so that current conducts between the electrical tester and the integrated circuit to test the integrated circuit, the electric tester including a plurality of n plus one power supply circuits connected to one another in parallel such that power is provided to the integrated circuit by n plus one of the power supply circuits, and if one of the power supplies fails, power is still provided to the integrated circuit by n of the circuits; and a power supply control circuit powered from at least one of a plurality of power supply circuits, the power supply control circuit switching the power supply circuits between a test mode, wherein power is provided by a first number of the plurality of power supply circuits, and a power save mode, wherein power is provided by a second number of the power supply circuits, the second number being less than the first number.