US5506499A — Multiple probing of an auxilary test pad which al…

Claim 1

Independent Claim 179 words

A large-scale integrated circuit comprising: a plurality of bonding pads; a logic controller connecting to each of the plurality of bonding pads; a memory embedded in the large-scale integrated circuit, the memory being accessed by the logic controller but not directly accessible by the plurality of bonding pads in a normal mode of operation; a subset of shared pads in the plurality of bonding pads; auxiliary test pads having a length and width sufficiently large for probing by a wafer sort tester but insufficiently large for forming a wire bond to the auxiliary test pad; wherein each shared pad in the subset of shared pads is electrically connected to a different auxiliary test pad; and multiplexer means, connected to the shared pads, for connecting the shared pads to the logic controller during the normal mode of operation but connecting the shared pads directly to the memory during a memory test mode; whereby the auxiliary test pads have a size sufficient for wafer-sort probing, but the bonding pads electrically connected to the auxiliary pads must be used for wire bonding.

Claim 2

Dependent Claim 179 words

A large-scale integrated circuit comprising: a plurality of bonding pads; a logic controller connecting to each of the plurality of bonding pads; a memory embedded in the large-scale integrated circuit, the memory being accessed by the logic controller but not directly accessible by the plurality of bonding pads in a normal mode of operation; a subset of shared pads in the plurality of bonding pads; auxiliary test pads having a length and width sufficiently large for probing by a wafer sort tester but insufficiently large for forming a wire bond to the auxiliary test pad; wherein each shared pad in the subset of shared pads is electrically connected to a different auxiliary test pad; and multiplexer means, connected to the shared pads, for connecting the shared pads to the logic controller during the normal mode of operation but connecting the shared pads directly to the memory during a memory test mode; whereby the auxiliary test pads have a size sufficient for wafer-sort probing, but the bonding pads electrically connected to the auxiliary pads must be used for wire bonding.

Claim 3

Dependent Claim 51 words

The large-scale integrated circuit of claim 1 further comprising: a package surrounding the integrated circuit, the package having external leads for electrical connection to a system, the package having wires bonded to the external leads and bonded to the plurality of bonding pads but not bonded to the auxiliary test pads.

Claim 4

Dependent Claim 35 words

The large-scale integrated circuit of claim 2 further comprising: spare memory cells, coupled to the memory; fuse elements for replacing a connection to a faulty memory cell in the memory with a spare memory cell.

Claim 5

Dependent Claim 22 words

The large-scale integrated circuit of claim 3 wherein the fuse elements are normally closed but are blown open by a laser pulse.

Claim 6

Dependent Claim 23 words

The large-scale integrated circuit of claim 4 wherein the memory is a dynamic random-access memory having at least one million bits of storage.

Claim 7

Dependent Claim 40 words

The large-scale integrated circuit of claim 5 wherein the logic controller is a video controller for manipulating pixel data for display on a screen, and wherein the memory is a video memory containing pixel data for display on the screen.

Claim 8

Dependent Claim 64 words

The large-scale integrated circuit of claim 3 wherein the auxiliary test pads contain multiple gouges from probing before and after the fuse elements are blown, but the bonding pads have no more than two gouges per pad from probing, whereby reliability of the wires bonded to the bonding pads is increased by probing and gouging the auxiliary test pads rather than the bonding pads.

Claim 9

Dependent Claim 26 words

The large-scale integrated circuit of claim 3 wherein each auxilary test pad is located adjacent to the primary bonding pad which it is electrically connected to.

Claim 10

Independent Claim 258 words

A method for testing a complex integrated circuit having a logic portion and an embedded memory, the method comprising: applying sufficient force to a first probe card to make electrical contact with auxiliary test pads on a die on a wafer, the die containing the complex integrated circuit; testing the embedded memory on the die on the wafer using the first probe card to connect the die to a memory test machine, the memory test machine applying voltages representing test inputs to the die and comparing expected outputs to voltages output from the die; transporting the wafer from the memory test machine to a logic test machine; applying sufficient force to a second probe card to make electrical contact with primary bonding pads on the die on the wafer, each auxiliary test pad being electrically connected on the die to one of the primary bonding pads; testing the logic portion of the die on the wafer using the second probe card to connect the die to the logic test machine, the logic test machine applying voltages representing test inputs to the die and comparing expected outputs to the voltages output from the die; sawing the wafer into individual die and separating out good die that did not fail when tested on the logic test machine and did not fail when tested on the memory test machine; and bonding wires to the primary bonding pads of the good die but not bonding to the auxiliary test pads, whereby the auxiliary test pads are used for testing the embedded memory.

Claim 11

Independent Claim 258 words

A method for testing a complex integrated circuit having a logic portion and an embedded memory, the method comprising: applying sufficient force to a first probe card to make electrical contact with auxiliary test pads on a die on a wafer, the die containing the complex integrated circuit; testing the embedded memory on the die on the wafer using the first probe card to connect the die to a memory test machine, the memory test machine applying voltages representing test inputs to the die and comparing expected outputs to voltages output from the die; transporting the wafer from the memory test machine to a logic test machine; applying sufficient force to a second probe card to make electrical contact with primary bonding pads on the die on the wafer, each auxiliary test pad being electrically connected on the die to one of the primary bonding pads; testing the logic portion of the die on the wafer using the second probe card to connect the die to the logic test machine, the logic test machine applying voltages representing test inputs to the die and comparing expected outputs to the voltages output from the die; sawing the wafer into individual die and separating out good die that did not fail when tested on the logic test machine and did not fail when tested on the memory test machine; and bonding wires to the primary bonding pads of the good die but not bonding to the auxiliary test pads, whereby the auxiliary test pads are used for testing the embedded memory.

Claim 12

Dependent Claim 151 words

The method of claim 9 further comprising the steps of: transporting the wafer from the memory test machine to a laser repair station; attempting to repair a faulty embedded memory by firing a laser at a fuse element in the embedded memory, the fuse element selecting a spare memory cell on the die to replace a faulty memory cell detected by the memory test machine; transporting the wafer from the laser repair station back to the memory test machine; applying sufficient force to the first probe card to make electrical contact with the auxiliary test pads on the die; and testing the embedded memory on the die after repair by the laser repair station, using the first probe card to connect the die to a memory test machine, the memory test machine applying voltages representing test inputs to the die and comparing expected outputs to the voltages output from the die.

Claim 13

Dependent Claim 45 words

The method of claim 10 further comprising the step of: enabling a test mode on the die during testing of the embedded memory, the test mode directly connecting the embedded memory to the auxiliary test pads and by passing the logic portion of the die.

Claim 14

Dependent Claim 32 words

The method of claim 11 wherein the first probe card makes contact to fewer pads than the second probe card, the first probe card having fewer probes than the second probe card.

Claim 15

Dependent Claim 58 words

The method of claim 12 wherein the memory test machine applies voltages representing test inputs to fewer inputs on the die and compares expected outputs to the voltages output from the die for fewer outputs than does the logic test machine, whereby the logic test machine tests more signals from the die than does the memory test machine.

Claim 16

Dependent Claim 28 words

The method of claim 13 wherein the embedded memory requires about one million vectors to fully test each memory cell for storage and leakage to neighboring memory cells.

Claim 17

Dependent Claim 77 words

The method of claim 14 wherein the step of testing the embedded memory comprises one million test cycles, with a different test vector being applied to the test inputs for each test cycle, and wherein the memory test machine executes a high-level test program which generates each test vector before being applied to the test inputs and discards the test vector after it is applied, whereby the memory test machine does not store a million test vectors.

Claim 18

Dependent Claim 34 words

The method of claim 15 wherein the logic test machine retrieves test vectors from a storage, the storage having a capacity of less than the one million test vectors for testing the embedded memory.

Claim 19

Dependent Claim 66 words

The method of claim 10 further comprising the steps of: burning a hole in a passivation layer above the fuse element on the die when firing the laser at the fuse element in the embedded memory; covering the hole in the passivation layer with a second passivation layer; forming openings in the second passivation layer over the primary bonding pads and over the auxiliary bonding pads.

Claim 20

Dependent Claim 65 words

The method of claim 10 further comprising the steps of: generating a repair map when testing the die on the memory test machine; transporting the repair map to the laser repair station; and using the repair map to locate die with repairable memories, the laser being fired at the fuse element in the embedded memory for die indicated as being repairable by the repair map.

Claim 21

Dependent Claim 31 words

The method of claim 10 further comprising the steps of: marking die with faulty logic portions; marking die with unrepairable faulty embedded memories; and marking die with unsuccessfully repaired embedded memories.

Annuity Stage	Window Opens	Payment Deadline	Surcharge Period Until	Estimated Fee	Status
3.5 Years (Year 4)	1999-04-09	1999-10-09	2000-04-09	$2000.00	Window Closed / Lapsed
7.5 Years (Year 8)	2003-04-09	2003-10-09	2004-04-09	$3760.00	Window Closed / Lapsed
11.5 Years (Year 12)	2007-04-09	2007-10-09	2008-04-09	$7700.00	Window Closed / Lapsed

Multiple probing of an auxilary test pad which allows for reliable bonding to a primary bonding pad

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