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:
Aug. 06, 2013
Filed:
Nov. 12, 2008
Kok Yong Yiang, Santa Clara, CA (US);
Rick Francis, Sunnyvale, CA (US);
Amit P. Marathe, Sunnyvale, CA (US);
Van-hung Pham, Milpitas, CA (US);
Kok Yong Yiang, Santa Clara, CA (US);
Rick Francis, Sunnyvale, CA (US);
Amit P. Marathe, Sunnyvale, CA (US);
Van-Hung Pham, Milpitas, CA (US);
Advanced Micro Devices, Inc., Sunnyvale, CA (US);
Abstract
According to one exemplary embodiment, a non-destructive method for determining a breakdown voltage of a dielectric layer on a semiconductor substrate includes injecting a test current in increasing ramp steps into the dielectric layer. The method further includes measuring a test voltage across the dielectric layer at each increasing ramp step of the test current. The method further includes detecting a dropped test voltage in response to the increasing ramp steps of the test current. The ramp steps of the test current can be substantially logarithmically increased. The breakdown voltage of the dielectric layer can be designated to be substantially equal to the dropped test voltage.