Described herein are a system and method of preparing integrated circuits (ICs) so that the ICs remain electrically active and can have their active circuitry probed for diagnostic and characterization purposes using charged particle beams. The system employs an infrared camera capable of looking through the silicon substrate of the ICs to image electrical circuits therein, a focused ion beam system that can both image the IC and selectively remove substrate material from the IC, a scanning electron microscope that can both image structures on the IC and measure voltage contrast signals from active circuits on the IC, and a means of extracting heat generated by the active IC. The method uses the system to identify the region of the IC to be probed, and to selectively remove all substrate material over the region to be probed using ion bombardment, and further identifies endpoint detection means of milling to the required depth so as to observe electrical states and waveforms on the active IC.

An internal failure detection method of an external failure detection system for industrial equipment, the external failure detection system including an array of transducers, the method including: (a) receiving a plurality of signals, each signal being measured by a corresponding transducer of the transducers array; (b) for each pair of transducers among a number of pairs of transducers, calculating at least one value of a correlation parameter between the pair of signals received at step (a) at the pair of transducers, by correlating at least part of the signals or of invertible transforms thereof; (c) for at least one transducer among the number of pairs of transducers, estimating from the values of the correlation parameters calculated at step (b) if the transducer is working properly.

An inspection apparatus including an illumination light source, a sensing probe and a processing device is provided. The illumination light source emits an illumination beam to simultaneously irradiate the plurality of light-emitting diode. The sensing probe is configured to measure a charge distribution, an electric field distribution, or a voltage distribution on the plurality of light-emitting diodes simultaneously irradiated by the illumination beam. The processing device determines a plurality of electro-optical characteristics of the plurality of light-emitting diodes through the charge distribution, the electric field distribution, or the voltage distribution on the plurality of light-emitting diodes simultaneously irradiated by the illumination beam. Moreover, a method of for inspecting light-emitting diodes is also provided.

An inspection apparatus including an illumination light source, a sensing probe and a processing device is provided. The illumination light source emits an illumination beam to simultaneously irradiate the plurality of light-emitting diode. The sensing probe is configured to measure a charge distribution, an electric field distribution, or a voltage distribution on the plurality of light-emitting diodes simultaneously irradiated by the illumination beam. The processing device determines a plurality of electro-optical characteristics of the plurality of light-emitting diodes through the charge distribution, the electric field distribution, or the voltage distribution on the plurality of light-emitting diodes simultaneously irradiated by the illumination beam. Moreover, a method of for inspecting light-emitting diodes is also provided.

Systems and methods for estimating electrical component degradation include a processor programmed to: compute a cumulative degradation value for an electrical system component of an electrical system based on an operating parameter of the electrical system component; and to compute a corrosion compensated cumulative degradation value for the electrical system component based on the cumulative degradation value and a corrosion rating of the electrical system.

Systems and methods for estimating electrical component degradation include a processor programmed to: compute a cumulative degradation value for an electrical system component of an electrical system based on an operating parameter of the electrical system component; and to compute a corrosion compensated cumulative degradation value for the electrical system component based on the cumulative degradation value and a corrosion rating of the electrical system.

An embodiment of the present application provides a test method for tolerance against the hot carrier effect, applied to an I/O circuit of a memory, the I/O circuit having an output terminal, comprising: controlling the output terminal to alternately output a first level and a second level, the first level being higher than the second level; obtaining a degradation rate of an output performance parameter of the I/O circuit according to the first level and the second level; and obtaining tolerance of the I/O circuit against the hot carrier effect based on the degradation rate.

Disclosed is a probe card for testing a wafer. The probe card includes a substrate and a block including an insulation portion and a conducting portion disposed on the insulation portion. Here, the insulation portion includes a via and a probe pin which comes into contact with an object to be tested. The conducting portion includes a contact point electrically connected to the substrate and a conducting pattern passing through the via and electrically connecting the contact point to the probe pin. A pitch between a plurality of such probe pins is smaller than a pitch between a plurality of such contact points. The block includes a plurality of unit blocks. The plurality of unit blocks each include the insulation portion and the conducting portion, and at least parts of the insulation portions of the unit blocks are arranged while being spaced apart from each other.

A signal transmission device includes a signal transmission chip, and a first lead frame supporting the signal transmission chip. A first inductor spiral ring is on a surface of the signal transmission chip, a second inductor spiral ring is inside the signal transmission chip, a first bonding pad is electrically coupled between the first and second inductor spiral rings, a guard ring covers the first and second inductor spiral rings in a plan view, and bonding pads are outside of the guard ring. A direction of rotation between the first and second inductor spiral rings are different from each other. The signal transmission device further includes a semiconductor chip and a second lead frame supporting the semiconductor chip, wherein the signal transmission chip and the semiconductor chip face each other.

A signal transmission device includes a signal transmission chip, and a first lead frame supporting the signal transmission chip. A first inductor spiral ring is on a surface of the signal transmission chip, a second inductor spiral ring is inside the signal transmission chip, a first bonding pad is electrically coupled between the first and second inductor spiral rings, a guard ring covers the first and second inductor spiral rings in a plan view, and bonding pads are outside of the guard ring. A direction of rotation between the first and second inductor spiral rings are different from each other. The signal transmission device further includes a semiconductor chip and a second lead frame supporting the semiconductor chip, wherein the signal transmission chip and the semiconductor chip face each other.