Patent · US Expired

Inspecting method and apparatus for semiconductor integrated circuit

US6037793A · kind A · utility

77Cited by
4References
24Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateJan 28, 1998
Grant dateMar 14, 2000
Priority date
Expiry dateJan 28, 2018

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC G)Physics
  • CPC primaryG01R31/287
  • WIPO fieldMeasurement
  • WIPO sectorInstruments

Abstract

According to the present invention, a main chuck, on which a wafer having a number of devices is held, is driven under the control of a computer, and the devices on the wafer are brought into electric contact with the probes arranged on the upper side of the main chuck. On the basis of outputs from the probes, a tester sequentially measures the electric characteristics of the devices. When a heat-generating type device is measured, the inspecting method and apparatus of the present invention execute the following steps step of predicting the temperature of the device under measurement on the basis of the amount of heat generated from the device under measurement, step of predicting the temperatures of the devices that surround the device under measurement, step of selecting next-measurement devices (which are suitable for next measurement in light of their temperatures) from among the devices the temperatures of which are predicted in step, and calculating the position coordinates of the next-measurement devices, and a step of repeating the steps with respect to each of the devices, adding the distance between the device under measurement and the next-measurement device to the alre…

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