Low cost, easy to use automatic test system software
First Claim
1. A semiconductor test system of the type having a body holding electronic circuitry for generating and measuring a plurality of test signals and a computer work station providing control information to the electronic circuitry within the body, the semiconductor test system additionally having controlling software within the computer work station, the controlling software comprising:
- a) a spread sheet program having a plurality of types of spread sheets, with a first portion of the plurality of types of spread sheets configured to hold data about a device under test and a second portion of the plurality of types of spread sheets configured to hold information influencing the steps performed during a test job on a semiconductor device;
b) a plurality of device driver program elements, each controlling a portion of the electronic circuitry within the body; and
c) program means for receiving data from the second portion of the plurality of types of spread sheets and controlling execution of a test job by providing data from spread sheets of the first type to selected ones of the plurality of program elements in an order dictated by data in spread sheets of the second type.
7 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
Automatic test equipment for semiconductor devices with low cost, easy to use software for developing and executing test programs. The tester is controlled with a computer work station running a commercially available spread sheet program. The commercially available spread sheet program is set as an application to provide a program development environment. In addition, programs made with the commercially available spread sheet program control the execution of tests on semiconductor devices. The tester is easy to program because use of the commercially available spread sheet program generates well known programming interfaces. In this way, the commercially available spread sheet program implements the software controlling the tester rather than merely providing spread sheet functions used by the application. The software controlling the automatic test equipment is therefore very easy to program or modify. It is also very easy to program.
171 Citations
14 Claims
-
1. A semiconductor test system of the type having a body holding electronic circuitry for generating and measuring a plurality of test signals and a computer work station providing control information to the electronic circuitry within the body, the semiconductor test system additionally having controlling software within the computer work station, the controlling software comprising:
-
a) a spread sheet program having a plurality of types of spread sheets, with a first portion of the plurality of types of spread sheets configured to hold data about a device under test and a second portion of the plurality of types of spread sheets configured to hold information influencing the steps performed during a test job on a semiconductor device; b) a plurality of device driver program elements, each controlling a portion of the electronic circuitry within the body; and c) program means for receiving data from the second portion of the plurality of types of spread sheets and controlling execution of a test job by providing data from spread sheets of the first type to selected ones of the plurality of program elements in an order dictated by data in spread sheets of the second type. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6)
-
-
7. A semiconductor test system of the type having a body holding electronic circuitry for generating and measuring a plurality of test signals and a computer work station providing control information to the electronic circuitry within the body, the semiconductor test system additionally having controlling software within the computer work station, the controlling software comprising:
-
a) a commercially available spread sheet program having a plurality of types of spread sheets, with a first portion of the plurality of types of spread sheets configured to hold data about a device under test and a second portion of the plurality of types of spread sheets configured to hold information influencing the steps performed during a test job on a semiconductor device; b) a plurality of device driver program elements, each controlling a portion of the electronic circuitry within the body; and c) program means for receiving data from the second portion of the plurality of types of spread sheets and controlling execution of a test job by providing data from spread sheets of the first type to selected ones of the plurality of program elements in an order dictated by data in spread sheets of the second type; and d) a plurality of test program elements, each of which represents a function performed during one step of the test job, and wherein a spread sheet in the second portion of the plurality spread sheets is a flow sheet which comprises a plurality of rows, with at least a portion of the plurality of rows each including; i) a reference to a test program element; and ii) an indication of a classification to be assigned to the device under test if the referenced test, when performed, indicates a failure. - View Dependent Claims (8, 9, 10, 11)
-
-
12. An automatic test system having control software stored on computer readable media to generate a plurality of data input screens, in which data on the device under test and data on the flow of the test program are entered in screens that have similar layouts, each of the screens comprising:
-
a) a data cell field having a plurality of data cells organized in rows and columns, each column holding data of a common type, with data cells in a first portion of the screens holding data on a semiconductor device under test and data cells in a second portion of the screens holding data on the flow of test program execution for the semiconductor device under test; b) a tool bar field having a plurality of tool icons, wherein the tool icons represent manipulating functions that alter either the semiconductor device data or the test program execution flow data; c) a tab field, each tab being selectable to access a different data input screen; and d) a menu bar field, having a plurality of menu items thereon, each of the menu items being selectable to reveal a plurality of sub-menu items, the sub-menu items under at least one of the menu items being selected in response to the selected tab field. - View Dependent Claims (13, 14)
-
Specification