The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Sep. 08, 1998
Filed:
Nov. 15, 1996
Ronald Jay Bolam, East Fairfield, VT (US);
Albert John Gregoritsch, Jr, South Burlington, VT (US);
International Business Machines Corporation, Armonk, NY (US);
Abstract
According to the present invention, an improved method for locating particle contamination during the integrated circuit manufacturing process is disclosed. The integrated circuit wafer is grounded and then exposed to an electron beam to create an enhanced electrical potential in any conducting or semi-conducting particles embedded in the layered wafer. The embedded particle will begin to accumulate an electrical charge and will reach a certain electrical potential based on the size and composition of the particle as well as the length of exposure to the electron beam. After a sufficient charge has been accumulated in the embedded particle, the wafer is subjected to burn-in testing. Since the particles embedded in the wafer have been previously exposed to the electron beam, the standard voltages applied during burn-in testing will force a certain number of embedded particles to suffer accelerated breakdown. After the defects have occurred and have been located, on-chip fuses can be used to re-route the circuits. As a final step, the wafer is annealed to remove any residual charge in any remaining particle defects not found by the present invention.