High-frequency tester for semiconductor devices

Details High-frequency tester for semiconductor devices High-frequency tester for semiconductor devices

2001-03-06

2004-02-10

Cuneo, Kamand (Department: 2829)

Electricity: measuring and testing

Measuring, testing, or sensing electricity, per se

With rotor

C324S765010

Reexamination Certificate

active

06690154

ABSTRACT:

FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The Invention relates generally to the field of semiconductors, and more specifically to a system and a method for testing very high frequency processors, memory devices, and other high speed semiconductor devices.
RELATED ART
As semiconductor technology continues to improve, semiconductor devices operate at increasingly higher frequencies and lower cycle times. As cycle times for leading edge semiconductors decrease, the devices used to determine whether such devices are functioning properly, known as testers, must also operate at increasingly high frequencies to provide a meaningful test of the semiconductor device under the conditions it is expected to operate. While the electronic capabilities of the Test Head Electronic Modules have more than kept pace with modem silicon semiconductor devices, the packaging technology interfacing the Device Under Test to the Test Head Electronics has not. This has created a problem where a tester cannot present the electrical environment of the Device In Use to the Device Under Test. The tester cannot, therefore, fully test the Device Under Test as it will be used as a Device In Use.
Current art high performance testers are normally configured much like one shown in FIG.
1
. As can be seen form
FIG. 1
, such a tester consist of a main frame
1
, a test head
2
, cabling
3
between the main frame
1
and the test head
2
, and a means to position said test head in any stable orientation (articulation
4
), so that many different pieces of device handling equipment can be interfaced to the test head. Inside the Test Head
2
reside the Test Head Electronics Modules
5
(“THEM”). There are several kinds of Test Head Electronics Modules to support different testing requirements of the multiplicity of devices which the tester is capable of testing. High speed clocking, analog I/O, digital I/O, and Power Supply regulation are just some of the possible Test Head Electronics Modules. The existence of these modules inside the test head facilitate configuration, maintenance, and the ability to be upgraded. Considerable attention has been used in the design, manufacture, packaging, cooling, and construction of the Test Head and its Electronics.
On the tester and inside the test head are disposed the Test Head Electronics Modules
5
, depicted in FIG.
2
. The THEM are a collection of highly sophisticated electronic circuits for driving and receiving test patterns, controlling and measuring signal timings, and is designed and developed for each line of Testers from any given manufacturer. Each THEM is interfaced to the tester mainframe by a cable
2
and through a bundle of said cables
3
. Each THEM is, in turn, connected to the Device Under Test Connector
7
, then to the Device Under Test Board
8
, and finally to the Device Under Test through a connector
9
.
FIG. 3
shows the Test Head interfacing with a device handler, while
FIG. 4
shows the same tester interfacing to an electron beam device used to measure electrical signals. The flexibility to be interfaced to a multiplicity of test, measurement, and manufacturing equipment, and the ability to be programmed to test a multiplicity of devices through interchangeable Device Under Test Boards, imposes a set of basic requirements on the packaging of the tester and especially of the test head electronics.
Test Head Electronics Modules are typically constructed of high performance Gallium Arsenide (“GaAs”) semiconductor materials. GaAs technology can operate at much higher frequencies than silicon semiconductor devices, and can tolerate higher voltage levels than the fastest silicon semiconductor devices can tolerate, and allows the construction of Test Head Electronics Modules with the ability to drive signals fast enough to test even the highest performance silicon semiconductor devices. Current silicon semiconductor technology is not capable of producing devices which can operate at these performance levels. As a result, test head electronics modules are usually constructed of GaAs technologies, and are (in general) capable of much higher performance than the devices they test. Until recently, GaAs Test Head Electronics Modules were sufficiently fast that testing the high speed signals emanating from silicon semiconductor devices could be performed with little respect for the electrical distance the signals had to travel between the Test Head Electronics Modules and the Device Under Test.
The Test Head Electronics Modules operate at very high frequencies at voltage levels above those tolerated by the high speed Device Under Test, and can, thereby, generate a great deal of heat. The Test Head has been carefully designed to deliver carefully regulated power to each Test Head Electronics Module and careful consideration has been given to cooling each Test Head Electronics Module to insure stable, reliable, and sensitive operation, and high performance signal characteristics. Therefore, the cabling
3
contains signal wires, power supply busses, and means to cool the electronics in the Test Head. This cable must not only carry the plethora of signals, power, and cooling, but must also be capable of accommodating the articulation of the Test Head from the fixed position Main Frame.
A Device Under Test must be supplied with power, clocking, and signals in order to function. The Device Under Test may have a large number of signals, a plurality of clock signals, and consume a large amount of power. A different device may have a lesser number of signals, a different plurality of clock signals, and considerably less power. The Test Head, depicted in
FIG. 2
, accommodates a multiplicity of different devices by relying on replaceable components known as Device Under Test Boards (DUT Boards)
8
. These DUT Boards interface to the Test Head by means of the DUT Board Connector
7
, and interface to the Device Under Test through the Device Under Test Connector
9
. Many testers now support upwards of 1000 signaling pins.
The Test Head has to be as small as possible to most accurately reflect the electrical environment of the Device In Use while testing said device as Device Under Test. But the minimum size of the test head is fixed by the maximum number of signal pins which interface the Test Head Electronic Modules to the Device Under Test through the DUT Board Connector
7
. The Test head is as small as practicable given the plethora of design and use requirements. It is this very size which gives rise to the problem the present invention overcomes.
While the electrical distance between the Test Head Electronics Modules and the device under test remains constant as operating frequencies increases, it takes a progressively larger percentage of a cycle time for a signal to traverse the distance from the THEM to the DUT or to traverse the (same) distance from the DUT to the THEM. As long as any particular signal only traverses the connecting wire in one direction (THEM to DUT, or DUT to THEM), the electrical distance between the THEM and the DUT
41
can be compensated by programming the Test Head Electronics Modules to send these signals
43
from an earlier point in time to the Device Under Test
47
, and by programming the Test Head Electronics Modules to receive those signals
45
from the Device Under Test at a later point in time
46
. But when signals must traverse the connecting wire in both directions, the tester can no longer fully compensate for the increasing delay
44
.
In order to fully characterize Devices Under Test, testers must do more than simply drive digital patterns to the DUT and simply receive digital patterns back from the DUT. Testers are called upon to generate carefully controlled output voltage or current levels at carefully positioned moments in time.
The ability to program a plurality of voltage levels for different signals on different wires and carefully controlling the timing of events across all of these interfacing wires allows the tester to be full utilized in solving its electrical distance problem.
Testers are called upon to measure voltages, c

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