Method in an integrated circuit (IC) manufacturing process for identifying and redirecting IC's mis-processed during their manufacture
First Claim
1. A method in an integrated circuit (IC) manufacturing process for redirecting one or more IC'"'"'s that have been mis-processed, the IC'"'"'s being of the type to have a substantially unique identification (ID) code, the method comprising:
- storing data in association with the ID code of each of the IC'"'"'s that indicates a process flow within the IC manufacturing process that each of the IC'"'"'s should undergo;
reading the ID code of each of the IC'"'"'s;
accessing the data stored in association with the ID code of each of the IC'"'"'s;
evaluating the data accessed for each of the IC'"'"'s to identify any IC'"'"'s that have undergone a process flow within the IC manufacturing process that is different from the process flow their data indicates they should have undergone; and
redirecting any IC'"'"'s identified as having been mis-processed.
6 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
An inventive method of manufacturing IC devices from semiconductor wafers includes providing the wafers and fabricating IC'"'"'s on the wafers. At probe, a unique fuse ID is stored in each IC, and an electronic wafer map is electronically stored for each wafer indicating the locations of good and bad IC'"'"'s on the wafer and the fuse ID'"'"'s of the IC'"'"'s on the wafer. Each IC is then separated from its wafer to form an IC die, and the IC dice are assembled into IC devices. At the opens/shorts test at the end of assembly, the fuse ID of each IC device is automatically retrieved so the wafer map of the IC device may be accessed and evaluated to identify any IC devices containing bad IC'"'"'s that have accidentally been assembled into IC devices. These "bad" IC devices are discarded, and the remaining IC devices continue on to back-end testing.
-
Citations
23 Claims
-
1. A method in an integrated circuit (IC) manufacturing process for redirecting one or more IC'"'"'s that have been mis-processed, the IC'"'"'s being of the type to have a substantially unique identification (ID) code, the method comprising:
-
storing data in association with the ID code of each of the IC'"'"'s that indicates a process flow within the IC manufacturing process that each of the IC'"'"'s should undergo; reading the ID code of each of the IC'"'"'s; accessing the data stored in association with the ID code of each of the IC'"'"'s; evaluating the data accessed for each of the IC'"'"'s to identify any IC'"'"'s that have undergone a process flow within the IC manufacturing process that is different from the process flow their data indicates they should have undergone; and redirecting any IC'"'"'s identified as having been mis-processed. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14)
-
-
15. A method of manufacturing integrated circuit (IC) devices from semiconductor wafers, the method comprising:
-
providing a plurality of semiconductor wafers; fabricating a plurality of IC'"'"'s on each of the wafers; causing each of the IC'"'"'s on each of the wafers to store a substantially unique identification (ID) code; storing data in association with the ID code of each of the IC'"'"'s that indicates a manufacturing process flow that each of the IC'"'"'s should undergo; separating each of the IC'"'"'s on each of the wafers from its wafer to form one of a plurality of IC dice; assembling each of the IC dice into an IC device; reading the ID code associated with each of the IC devices; accessing the data stored in association with the ID code associated with each of the IC devices; evaluating the data accessed for each of the IC devices to identify any IC devices that have undergone a manufacturing process flow that is different from the manufacturing process flow their data indicates they should have undergone; redirecting any IC devices identified as having undergone a manufacturing process flow that is different from the manufacturing process flow their data indicates they should have undergone; and back-end testing any non-redirected IC devices. - View Dependent Claims (16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
-
-
21. A method of manufacturing Multi-Chip Modules (MCM'"'"'s) from semiconductor wafers, the method comprising:
-
providing a plurality of semiconductor wafers; fabricating a plurality of IC'"'"'s on each of the wafers; causing each of the IC'"'"'s on each of the wafers to store a substantially unique identification (ID) code; storing data in association with the ID code of each of the IC'"'"'s that indicates a manufacturing process flow that each of the IC'"'"'s should undergo; separating each of the IC'"'"'s on each of the wafers from its wafer to form one of a plurality of IC dice; assembling one or more of the IC dice into each of a plurality of MCM'"'"'s; reading the ID code of each of the IC dice in each of the MCM'"'"'s; accessing the data stored in association with the ID code of each of the IC dice in each of the MCM'"'"'s; evaluating the data accessed for each of the IC dice in each of the MCM'"'"'s to identify any MCM'"'"'s having IC dice that have undergone a manufacturing process flow that is different from the manufacturing process flow their data indicates they should have undergone; redirecting any MCM'"'"'s identified as having IC dice that have undergone a manufacturing process flow that is different from the manufacturing process flow their data indicates they should have undergone; and back-end testing any non-redirected MCM'"'"'s. - View Dependent Claims (22)
-
-
23. A method of manufacturing integrated circuit (IC) devices from semiconductor wafers, the method comprising:
-
providing a plurality of semiconductor wafers; fabricating a plurality of IC'"'"'s on each of the wafers; electronically probing each of the IC'"'"'s on each of the wafers to identify good and bad IC'"'"'s on each of the wafers;
programming each of the IC'"'"'s on each of the wafers to store a unique fuse identification (ID);storing an electronic wafer map for each wafer that identifies the locations of good and bad IC'"'"'s on the wafer and associates each IC on the wafer with its fuse ID; sawing each of the IC'"'"'s on each of the wafers from its wafer to form one of a plurality of discrete IC dice; automatically picking each of the IC dice from its wafer; placing each of the IC dice onto an epoxy coated bonding site of one of a plurality of lead frames; curing the epoxy on the bonding site of each of the lead frames; wire bonding each of the IC dice to its associated lead frame; injection molding each of the IC dice and its associated lead frame to form one of a plurality of IC packages each having projecting leads; de-flashing the projecting leads of each of the IC packages; curing each of the IC packages; electroplating the projecting leads of each of the IC packages; singulating each of the IC packages into one of a plurality of discrete IC devices; testing each of the IC devices for opens and shorts; electrically retrieving the fuse ID associated with each of the IC devices; accessing the wafer map stored in association with the fuse ID associated with each of the IC devices; evaluating the wafer map accessed for each of the IC devices to identify any IC devices that include a bad IC and any IC devices that include a good IC; discarding any IC devices identified as including a bad IC; and back-end testing any IC devices identified as including a good IC.
-
Specification