Method and apparatus for testing of semiconductor devices

• US 5,668,745 A
• Filed: 10/20/1995
• Issued: 09/16/1997
• Est. Priority Date: 10/20/1995
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Bell Semiconductor, LLC (Hilco Inc. (d/b/a Hilco Global))
• Original Assignee: LSI Logic Corporation (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Inventors: Day, Chris
• Primary Examiner(s): Voeltz, Emanuel T.
• Assistant Examiner(s): VO, HIEN XUAN
• Application Number:
  US08/545,879
• Time in Patent Office: 697 Days
• Field of Search: 364/580, 364/488, 364/490, 364/579, 395/919, 395/920, 371/22.6, 371/27
• US Class Current: 702/121
• CPC Class Codes: G01R 31/318307 computer-aided, e.g. automatic test program generator [ATPG], program translations, test program debugging

Abstract

A computer-based method is provided for determining whether a semi-conductor device conforms to design requirements. In one embodiment, the method is based on data stored in a design database, and an automatic test equipment ("ATE") datalog. In a further embodiment, the method includes generating a requirements datalog responsive to the design database, generating a standard datalog responsive to the automatic test equipment datalog, and generating a conformance indication responsive to the requirements datalog and the standard datalog.

Claims

1. A method useful in a computer system having a data processing unit operative with a memory, data retrieval circuitry and a user interface to determine whether a semiconductor device conforms to design requirements based on data stored in a design database and an automatic test equipment ("ATE") data log, the method comprising:

retrieving design database data from the design database;

retrieving ATE data from the automatic test equipment ("ATE") datalog, the ATE data being generated by a test program executed on the ATE which applies test data to the semiconductor device, the test program being responsive to the design database data;

generating a standard datalog responsive to the ATE data such that the standard datalog represents actual data produced by the semiconductor device in response to the test data applied to the semiconductor device by the ATE;

generating a requirements datalog from the design database data such that a one-to-one correspondence exists between each test performed by the ATE and verification data in the requirements datalog whereby the verification data represents data to verify that the actual data produced by the semiconductor device conforms to design requirements;

comparing the requirements datalog to the standard datalog to determine whether the semiconductor device conforms to design requirements.

2. A method as in claim 1 wherein generating a requirements datalog comprises:

establishing a first data structure having a first plurality of predefined fields;

formatting the design database data in accordance with the first data structure;

storing the formatted design database data into the first data structure.

3. A method as in claim 2 wherein the first plurality of predefined fields comprises:

a first plurality of name fields, each name field being associated with a test performed by an ATE;

a first plurality of parameter fields for storing design parameters, each parameter field being associated with a name field.

4. A method as in claim 3 wherein generating a standard datalog comprises:

establishing a second data structure having a second plurality of predefined fields, the second plurality of predefined fields corresponding to the first plurality of predefined fields;

formatting the ATE data in accordance with the second data structure;

storing the formatted ATE data into the second data structure.

5. A method as in claim 4 wherein the second plurality of predefined fields comprises:

a second plurality of name fields, each name filed being associated with a test performed by the ATE;

a second plurality of parameter fields for storing ATE test result parameters, each parameter field being associated with a name field.

6. A method as in claim 5 wherein generating a conformance indication comprises:

comparing the formatted design database data stored in the first data structure with the formatted ATE data stored in the second data structure;

generating a signal to the user interface indicating whether the device conforms to design requirements based on the comparison.

7. A computer-based system, having a data processing unit operative with a memory, data retrieval circuitry, and a user interface, for testing a semiconductor device, the system being responsive to a design database and an automatic test equipment ("ATE") datalog and comprising:

a datalog requirements generator responsive to the design database which generates a requirements datalog from the design database such that a one-to-one correspondence exists between each test performed by the ATE and verification data in the requirements datalog, whereby the verification data represents data to verify that actual data produced by the semiconductor device conforms to design requirements;

a standard datalog generator responsive to the automatic test equipment datalog which generates a standard datalog such that the standard datalog represents the actual produced by the semiconductor device in response to the test data applied to the semiconductor device by the ATE;

a verification circuit which compares the requirements datalog and the standard datalog to produce a device conformance indication.

8. A system as in claim 7 wherein the datalog requirements generator comprises:

a retrieval circuit which retrieves data from the design database;

a data processing unit which formats the design database data and stores the formatted design database data into a first memory structure.

9. A system as in claim 8 wherein the datalog requirements generator further comprises:

means, responsive to the design database data, for determining a plurality of tests performed by an ATE;

means for categorizing each test into a test type;

means for assigning a test name to each test;

means for assigning acceptable test parameters to each test name.

10. A system as in claim 9 wherein the standard datalog generator comprises:

a retrieval circuit which retrieves data from the ATE datalog;

a data processing unit which formats the ATE datalog data and stores the formatted ATE datalog data into a second memory.

11. A system as in claim 10 wherein the standard datalog generator further comprises:

means, responsive to the ATE datalog data, for determining a plurality of tests performed by the ATE;

means for categorizing each test into a test type;

means for assigning a test name to each test;

means for assigning test result parameters to each test name.