Method of making a flexible tester surface for testing integrated circuits
First Claim
1. A method of making an integrated circuit tester surface comprising the steps of:
- forming at least one layer of flexible material on a surface of substrate;
forming a plurality of conductive vias in each of said layers;
depositing a thin film of conductive metal on each of said layers and in said vias;
patterning said thin film to form conductive traces;
releasing said layer from said substrate; and
forming conductive probe points at said vias.
3 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
Each transistor or logic unit on an integrated circuit wafer is tested prior to interconnect metallization. By CAD means, the transistor or logic units placement net list is revised to substitute redundant defect-free logic units for defective ones. Then the interconnect metallization is laid down and patterned under control of a CAD means. Each die in the wafer thus has its own interconnect scheme, although each die is functionally equivalent, and yields are much higher than with conventional testing at the completed circuit level.
The individual transistor or logic unit testing is accomplished by a specially fabricated flexible tester surface made in one embodiment of several layers of flexible silicon dioxide, each layer containing vias and conductive traces leading to thousands of microscopic metal probe points on one side of the test surface. The probe points electrically contact the contacts on the wafer under test by fluid pressure. The tester surface traces are then connected, by means of multiplexers, to a conventional tester signal processor.
-
Citations
27 Claims
-
1. A method of making an integrated circuit tester surface comprising the steps of:
-
forming at least one layer of flexible material on a surface of substrate; forming a plurality of conductive vias in each of said layers; depositing a thin film of conductive metal on each of said layers and in said vias; patterning said thin film to form conductive traces; releasing said layer from said substrate; and forming conductive probe points at said vias. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23)
-
-
24. A method of making an integrated circuit tester surface comprising the steps of:
-
forming a plurality of cavities in a surface of a substrate; forming logic circuitry on the surface of the substrate; forming a depression in a center portion of the substrate; forming a thin film of metal on the surface of the substrate and thereby filling each of the cavities; forming a layer of flexible material on the thin film of metal; removing at least a portion of the substrate; and attaching the layer of flexible material to a support. - View Dependent Claims (25, 26, 27)
-
Specification