Method of designing an application specific probe card test system
First Claim
1. A method of programming a test system to perform testing of integrated circuits (ICs), the method comprising:
- providing code to a memory on a probe card, the probe card comprising a plurality of probes, the code being readable by a programmable controller on the probe card to control the provision of test signals from channels of a test system controller through the probes to the ICs, wherein an interconnect relation between channels of a test system controller and the plurality of probes is configurable via the code.
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Abstract
A method is provided for design and programming of a probe card with an on-board programmable controller in a wafer test system. Consideration of introduction of the programmable controller is included in a CAD wafer layout and probe card design process. The CAD design is further loaded into the programmable controller, such as an FPGA to program it: (1) to control direction of signals to particular ICs, even during the test process (2) to generate test vector signals to provide to the ICs, and (3) to receive test signals and process test results from the received signals. In some embodiments, burn-in only testing is provided to limit test system circuitry needed so that with a programmable controller on the probe card, text equipment external to the probe card can be eliminated or significantly reduced from conventional test equipment.
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Citations
27 Claims
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1. A method of programming a test system to perform testing of integrated circuits (ICs), the method comprising:
providing code to a memory on a probe card, the probe card comprising a plurality of probes, the code being readable by a programmable controller on the probe card to control the provision of test signals from channels of a test system controller through the probes to the ICs, wherein an interconnect relation between channels of a test system controller and the plurality of probes is configurable via the code. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21)
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22. A method to perform testing of integrated circuits (ICs), the method comprising:
partially reconfiguring a Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) on a probe card during testing of the ICs, the probe card comprising a plurality of probes, the FPGA being reconfigured to control the provision of test signals from individual channels of a test system controller to different ones of the probes to the ICs during the testing.
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23. A probe card system comprising:
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a probe card comprising;
a substrate supporting probes;
a programmable controller controlling the provision of test signals from channels of a test system controller through the probes for providing to Devices Under Test (DUTs); and
a memory device for storing code to configure the programmable controller; and
a Computer Aided Design (CAD) system for determining a design for programming the memory device to selectively route signals from individual ones of the test channels to different DUTs as determined by a design of the DUTs. - View Dependent Claims (24, 25, 26, 27)
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Specification