The tracing system provides a method to detect short circuit patterns using needles (probers) with a resistance measuring instrument (tester) attached, this measures resistance as the patterns to be checked are traced. Compared with the prober system, this system has significant merits as described below.

Unlike the prober system that uses separate, expensive probes for each product, the tracing system uses a common needle for different products, thus achieving reduced inspection cost in small-quantity, multi-product production.

The prober system performs inspection by a step-and-repeat process, making its tact time significantly dependent on the number of gang printed patterns. The tracing method, on the other hand, can perform high-speed inspection independent of the number of gang printed patterns, thus achieving reduced test time in the inspection process.