Patent · US Expired

Method for inspecting semiconductor devices

US5321354A · kind A · utility

34Cited by
9References
23Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateMay 18, 1992
Grant dateJun 14, 1994
Priority date
Expiry dateMay 18, 2012

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC G)Physics
  • CPC primaryG01R31/3004
  • WIPO fieldMeasurement
  • WIPO sectorInstruments

Abstract

A method for detecting the quality of a semiconductor device using a static current that flows in a state wherein internal elements are fixed, the semiconductor device has internal elements, such as MISFETs and complementary MISFETs in particular. By using a pattern group that controls the state of nodes of the internal elements or ON/OFF and other states of MISFETs that comprise the internal elements, as a test pattern group used for this inspection, faults involving long range reliability in addition to degenerate faults and those faults detected using conventional fault simulation may be detected. In the inspection method based on static current, observability of faults at output terminals need not be taken into consideration, so that the number of patterns in the test pattern group used for inspection may be less and may be easily created.

Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.