Patent classifications
G01R31/28
Apparatus and methods for testing semiconductor devices
The invention is a cost effective multisite parallel wafer tester that has an array of stationary wafer test sites; a single mobile wafer handling and alignment carriage that holds a wafer handling robot, a wafer rotation pre-alignment assembly, a wafer alignment assembly, a wafer front opening unified pod (FOUP), and a wafer camera assembly; and a robot that moves the wafer handling and alignment carriage to and from each test site. Each test site contains a wafer probe card assembly and a floating chuck. In use, wafers are loaded from a front opening FOUP into a wafer buffer FOUP from which wafers are retrieved by the wafer handling and alignment assembly. The robot positions the wafer handling and alignment carriage and the associated wafer handling robot, the wafer rotation pre-alignment assembly, the wafer alignment assembly, the wafer FOUP, and the wafer camera assembly in front of and inside a given test site and aligns the wafer to be tested with the probe card inside the test site using the floating chuck.
Pressure relief valve
A method of testing an integrated circuit of a device is described. Air is allowed through a fluid line to modify a size of a volume defined between the first and second components of an actuator to move a contactor support structure relative to the apparatus and urge terminals on the contactor support structure against contacts on the device. Air is automatically released from the fluid line through a pressure relief valve when a pressure of the air in the fluid line reaches a predetermined value. The holder is moved relative to the apparatus frame to disengage the terminals from the contacts while maintaining the first and second components of the actuator in a substantially stationary relationship with one another. A connecting arrangement is provided including first and second connecting pieces with complementary interengaging formations that restricts movement of the contactor substrate relative to the distribution board substrate in a tangential direction.
Semiconductor package test system and semiconductor package fabrication method using the same
A semiconductor package test system includes a test pack on which a semiconductor package is loaded, and a semiconductor package testing apparatus. The semiconductor package testing apparatus includes a receiving section that receives the test pack. The receiving section includes a pack receiving slot into which the test pack is inserted. The test pack includes a chuck on which the semiconductor package is fixed, a probe block disposed above the chuck, and a connection terminal. The receiving section includes a receiving terminal that is electrically connected to the connection terminal when the receiving terminal contacts the connection terminal. The probe block includes at least one needle configured to be electrically connected to the semiconductor package disposed on the chuck upon the chuck moving toward the semiconductor package. The receiving section is provided in plural.
Monitoring systems for industrial machines having dynamically adjustable computational units
A flexible monitoring system and corresponding methods of use are provided. The system can include a base containing backplane, and one or more monitoring circuits. The monitoring circuits can be designed with a common architecture that is programmable to perform different predetermined functions. As a result, monitoring circuits can be shared between different implementations of the flexible monitoring system. Multiple bases that can be communicatively coupled in a manner that establishes a common backplane between respective bases that is formed from the individual backplanes of each base. Each monitoring circuit is not limited to sending data to and/or receiving data from the backplane to which it is physically coupled but can instead can communicate along the common backplane. Computational processing capacity can be increased or decreased independently of input signals received by addition or removal of processing circuits from the monitoring system.
Antenna in package production test
A test assembly for testing an antenna-in-package (AiP) device includes a socket over a circuit board, where the socket includes an opening for receiving the AiP device; a plunger configured to move along sidewalls of the opening, where during testing of the AiP device, the plunger is configured to cause the AiP device to be pressed towards the circuit board such that the AiP device is operatively coupled to the circuit board via input/output connections of the AiP device and of the circuit board; and a loadboard disposed within the socket and between the plunger and the AiP device, where the loadboard includes a coupling structure configured to be electromagnetically coupled to a transmit antenna and to a receive antenna of the AiP device, so that testing signals transmitted by the transmit antenna are conveyed to the receive antenna externally relative to the AiP device through the coupling structure.
Functional test equipment including relay system and test method using the functional test equipment
The present disclosure provides functional test equipment for a device under test and method of testing the device under test. The functional test equipment includes a first power supply, a second power supply and a relay system. The first power supply is configured to generate a first supply voltage. The second power supply is configured to generate a second supply voltage different from the first supply voltage. The relay system is configured to electrically couple the first power supply or the second power supply to the device under test, wherein the first supply voltage is applied to the device under test for a first duration and the second supply voltage is applied to the device under test for a second duration less than the first duration.
DESIGNED ASPERITY CONTACTORS, INCLUDING NANOSPIKES, FOR SEMICONDUCTOR TEST, AND ASSOCIATED SYSTEMS AND METHODS
Nanospike contactors suitable for semiconductor device test, and associated systems and methods are disclosed. A representative apparatus includes a package having a wafer side positioned to face toward a device under test and an inquiry side facing away from the wafer side. A plurality of wafer side sites are carried at the wafer side of the package. The nanospikes can be attached to nanospike sites on a wafer side of the package. Because of their small size, multiple nanospikes make contact with a single pad/solderball on the semiconductor device. In some embodiments, after detecting that the device under test passes the test, the device under the test can be packaged to create a known good die in a package.
TESTING HEAD COMPRISING VERTICAL PROBES
A testing head for testing a device includes a couple of plate-like supports separated from each other by a suitable gap and provided with respective guide holes to slidably house a plurality of contact probes, each including a rod-like body extending along a preset longitudinal axis between a first and second ends, the first end being a contact tip that abuts a contact pad of the device and the second end being a contact head that abuts a contact pad of a space transformer. At least one of the supports comprises a couple of guides that are parallel to each other and separated by an additional gap and provided with corresponding guide holes. Each contact probe comprises a protruding element or stopper originating from a lateral wall and realized in correspondence of one wall of a guide hole of the guides contacting the lateral wall of the contact probe.
ON-CHIP MONITOR CIRCUIT AND SEMICONDUCTOR CHIP
Provided is an on-chip monitor circuit mounted on a semiconductor chip that is equipped with a security function module for performing a security function process on an input signal and outputting a security function signal, the on-chip monitor circuit comprising a monitor circuit for monitoring signal waveforms of the semiconductor chip, wherein the circuit is provided with a first storage means for storing data that designates a window period in which to perform a test of the semiconductor chip, and a control means for performing control to operate the circuit during the window period, when a prescribed test signal is inputted to the security function module. By using the on-chip monitor circuit in a semiconductor chip of which security is required, security attacks, e.g., a Trojan horse or the like, intended to embed a malicious circuit in the production stage of security function module-equipped semiconductors chips, can be prevented.
Testing Circuit of a Longtime-Constant Circuit Stage and Corresponding Testing Method
A method can be used for testing a charge-retention circuit for measurement of a time interval having a storage capacitor coupled between a first biasing terminal and a floating node, and a discharge element coupled between the floating node and a reference terminal. The discharge element is configured to implement discharge of a charge stored in the storage capacitor by leakage through a corresponding dielectric. The method includes biasing the floating node at a reading voltage, detecting a biasing value of the reading voltage, implementing an operation of integration of the discharge current in the discharge element with the reading voltage kept constant at the biasing value, and determining an effective resistance value of the discharge element as a function of the operation of integration.