Die-level process monitor and method

Details Die-level process monitor and method Die-level process monitor and method

2007-07-03

2007-07-03

Nguyen, Ha Tran (Department: 2829)

Electricity: measuring and testing

Fault detecting in electric circuits and of electric components

Of individual circuit component or element

C324S765010, C438S018000, C257S048000

Reexamination Certificate

active

11156022

ABSTRACT:
A die-level process monitor (DLPM) provides a means for independently determining whether an IC malfunction is a result of the design or the manufacturing processing and further for gathering data on specific process parameters. The DLPM senses parameter variations that result from manufacturing process drift and outputs a measure of the process parameter. The DLPM will typically sense the mismatch of process parameters between two or more test devices as a measure of process variation between a like pair of production devices. The DLPM may be used as a diagnostic tool to determine why an IC failed to perform within specification or to gather statistics on measured process parameters for a given foundry or process.

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