Pdf Solutions, Incorporated

Larg H Weiland

Christopher Hess

Dennis Ciplickas

Sherry F Lee

John Kibarian

Kimon Michaels

Tomasz Brozek

Rakesh Vallishayee

Indranil De

Jeremy Cheng

Jonathan Haigh

Hans Eisenmann

Sheng-Che Lin

Stephen Lam

Vyacheslav Rovner

Andrzej Strojwas

Markus Rauscher

Carl Taylor

Kelvin Doong

Conor O'Sullivan

Timothy Fiscus

Marcin Strojwas

Simone Comensoli

Nobuharu Yokoyama

Marci Liao

Hideki Matsuhashi

Brian E Stine

Joseph C Davis

David M Stashower

Matthew Moe

Purnendu K Mozumder

Richard Gene Burch

Sharad Saxena

Christoph Dolainsky

Michele Quarantelli

Jonathan O Burrows

Howard Read

Markus Decker

Alberto Piadena

A novel system for in-product Bias Temperature Instability (BTI) characterization that allows for characterization of transistor degradation rates is disclosed; it is self-testing and can be embedded in real products without impacting the host functionality. The test data collected during product chip testing (at Electrical Wafer Sort) can be used for identification of abnormal material and for material disposition, or to predict the chip aging rate and premature failure risk due to BTI degradation. The system can also collect the data from the real time device aging in the field, during the host chip operational lifetime. The system is equipped with local programmable power supply generation and self-test capabilities to allow concurrent operations with the host application. The Devices Under Test (DUTs) consist of standard cell-based Ring Oscillators (ROs) which have the unique capability of decoupling the BTI effects on N-type and P-type MOSFET transistors. New switching circuitry is implemented that provides for minimal delay between the stress and measurement phases, thus giving the system the capability of fully characterizing the BTI relaxation dynamic.

Embedded system to characterize BTI degradation effects in MOSFETs

An IC that includes a contiguous standard cell area with a 4x3 e-beam pad that is compatible with advanced manufacturing processes and an associated e-beam testable structure.

IC with test structures and e-beam pads embedded within a contiguous standard cell area

An IC that includes a contiguous standard cell area with a 4&#xd7;3 e-beam pad that is compatible with advanced manufacturing processes and an associated e-beam testable structure.

IC with test structures and E-beam pads embedded within a contiguous standard cell area

A method for processing a semiconductor wafer uses non-contact electrical measurements indicative of at least one tip-to-side short or leakage, at least one corner short or leakage, and at least one via open or resistance, where such measurements are obtained from non-contact pads associated with respective tip-to-side short, corner short, and via open test areas.

Method for processing a semiconductor wafer using non-contact electrical measurements indicative of at least one tip-to-side short or leakage, at least one corner short or leakage, and at least one via open or resistance, where such measurements are obtained from non-contact pads associated with respective tip-to-side short, corner short, and via open test areas

An IC includes a contiguous standard cell area with first, second, and third TS-GATE-short-configured test area geometries disposed therein. In some embodiments, the contiguous standard cell area may further include: fourth and fifth TS-GATE-short-configured test area geometries, and/or other test area geometries, such as tip-to-tip-short, tip-to-side-short, diagonal-short, corner-short, interlayer-overlap-short, via-chamfer-short, merged-via-short, snake-open, stitch-open, via-open, or metal-island-open.

IC with test structures embedded within a contiguous standard cell area

Improved processes for manufacturing wafers, chips, or dies utilize in-line data obtained from non-contact electrical measurements ('NCEM') of fill cells that contain structures configured target/expose a variety of open-circuit, short-circuit, leakage, or excessive resistance failure modes. Such processes may involve evaluating Designs of Experiments ('DOEs'), comprised of multiple NCEM-enabled fill cells, in at least two variants, all targeted to the same failure mode(s).

Process for making semiconductor dies, chips, and wafers using in-line measurements obtained from DOEs of NCEM-enabled fill cells

A method for processing a semiconductor wafer uses non-contact electrical measurements indicative of at least one tip-to-tip short or leakage, at least one via-chamfer short or leakage, and at least one corner short or leakage, where such measurements are obtained from cells with respective tip-to-tip short, via-chamfer short, and corner short test areas, using a charged particle-beam inspector with a moving stage and beam deflection to account for motion of the stage.

Methods for processing a semiconductor wafer using non-contact electrical measurements indicative of at least one tip-to-tip short or leakage, at least one via-chamfer short or leakage, and at least one corner short or leakage, where such measurements are obtained from cells with respective tip-to-tip short, via-chamfer short, and corner short test areas, using a charged particle-beam inspector with beam deflection to account for motion of the stage

An IC includes first and second designs of experiments (DOES), each comprised of at least two fill cells. The fill cells contain structures configured to obtain in-line data via non-contact electrical measurements ('NCEM'). The first DOE contains fill cells configured to enable non-contact (NC) detection of tip-to-side shorts, and the second DOE contains fill cells configured to enable NC detection of corner shorts.

Integrated circuit containing first and second DOEs of standard Cell Compatible, NCEM-enabled Fill Cells, with the first DOE including tip-to-side short configured fill cells, and the second DOE including corner short configured fill cells

A method for processing a semiconductor wafer uses non-contact electrical measurements indicative of at least one tip-to-tip short or leakage, at least one tip-to-side short or leakage, and at least one corner short or leakage, where such measurements are obtained from non-contact pads associated with respective tip-to-tip short, tip-to-side short, and corner short test areas.

Method for processing a semiconductor wafer using non-contact electrical measurements indicative of at least one tip-to-tip short or leakage, at least one tip-to-side short or leakage, and at least one corner short or leakage, where such measurements are obtained from non-contact pads associated with respective tip-to-tip short, tip-to-side sort, and corner short test areas

A method for processing a semiconductor wafer uses non-contact electrical measurements indicative of at least one tip-to-tip short or leakage, at least one tip-to-side short or leakage, and at least one side-to-side short or leakage, where such measurements are obtained from non-contact pads associated with respective tip-to-tip short, tip-to-side short, and side-to-side short test areas.

Method for processing a semiconductor wafer using non-contact electrical measurements indicative of at least one tip-to-tip short or leakage, at least one tip-to-side short or leakage, and at least one side-to-side short or leakage, where such measurements are obtained from non-contact pads associated with respective tip-to-tip short, tip-to-side short, and side-to-side short test areas

A method for processing a semiconductor wafer uses non-contact electrical measurements indicative of at least one side-to-side short or leakage, at least one via-chamfer short or leakage, and at least one corner short or leakage, where such measurements are obtained from cells with respective side-to-side short, via-chamfer short, and corner short test areas, using a charged particle-beam inspector with a moving stage and beam deflection to account for motion of the stage.

Method for processing a semiconductor wafer using non-contact electrical measurements indicative of a least one side-to-side short or leakage, at least one via-chamfer short or leakage, and at least one corner short or leakage, where such measurements are obtained from cells with respective side-to-side short, via-chamfer short, and corner short test areas, using a charged particle-beam inspector with beam deflection to account for motion of the stage

Growing community of inventors

San Ramon, CA, United States of America

Larg H Weiland