Electrical mask inspection

• US 8,343,781 B2
• Filed: 09/21/2010
• Issued: 01/01/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 09/21/2010
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Kumar, Arvind, Chou, Anthony I-Chih, Narasimha, Shreesh
• Primary Examiner(s): STARK, JARRETT J
• Application Number:
  US12/886,612
• Publication Number:
  US 20120068174A1
• Time in Patent Office: 833 Days
• Field of Search: 438/17, 438/18, 438/622, 257/E21.531, 257/E21.575, 257/E23.142, 257/48
• US Class Current: 438/18
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 22/34 Circuits for electrically characterising or monitoring manufacturing processes, e. g. whole test die, wafers filled with test structures, on-board-devices incorporated on each die, process control monitors or pad structures thereof, devices in scribe line switching, multiplexing, gating devices G01R19/25; process control with lithography, e.g. dose control, G03F7/20; structures for alignment control by optical means G03F7/70633
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 23/544 Marks applied to semiconductor devices or parts, e.g. registration marks, alignment structures, wafer maps test patterns for characterising or monitoring manufacturing processes H01L22/00
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 2924/00 Indexing scheme for arrangements or methods for connecting or disconnecting semiconductor or solid-state bodies as covered by H01L24/00
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 2924/0002 Not covered by any one of groups H01L24/00, H01L24/00 and H01L2224/00

Abstract

An apparatus and method for electrical mask inspection is disclosed. A scan chain is formed amongst two metal layers and a via layer. One of the three layers is a functional layer under test, and the other two layers are test layers. A resistance measurement of the scan chain is used to determine if a potential defect exists within one of the vias or metal segments comprising the scan chain.

Claims

1. A method for testing an integrated circuit, comprising the steps of:

forming a plurality of scan chains, each scan chain formed by the steps of;

forming a first endpoint;

forming a second endpoint;

forming a first metal layer, comprising a plurality of segments;

forming a second metal layer, comprising a plurality of segments;

forming a via layer, comprising a plurality of vias wherein each via is configured and disposed to connect a segment of the first metal layer to a segment of the second metal layer;

wherein the step of forming the first metal layer comprises forming a segment connected to said first endpoint and also comprises forming a segment connected to said second endpoint; and

wherein one of the layers formed is a functional layer, and wherein two of the layers formed are test layers;

performing a resistance measurement between the first endpoint and second endpoint of each of the plurality of scan chains;

indicating a failure if the resistance measurement exceeds a predetermined threshold; and

wherein the step of forming a plurality of scan chains comprises the steps of;

computing the number of scan chains as the number of endpoints divided by two; and

computing the number of vias per scan chain as the total number of vias for a given level divided by the number of chains.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of forming a plurality of scan chains comprises associating each scan chain with a functional area of an integrated circuit.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of forming a plurality of scan chains comprises assigning a plurality of functional elements to the test circuits based on physical positioning of each of the plurality of functional elements within the chip.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of forming a via layer for each of the plurality of scan chains comprises forming a functional layer, and the step of forming the first metal layer and the step of comprising the second metal layer comprise forming test layers.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of forming a second metal layer for each of the plurality of scan chains comprises forming a functional layer, and the step of forming a first metal layer and the step of forming a via layer comprise forming test layers.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of forming a first endpoint and the step of forming a second endpoint for each of the plurality of scan chains comprise forming a metal pad.

2. A method for testing an integrated circuit, comprising the steps of:

forming a plurality of scan chains, each scan chain formed by the steps of;

forming a first endpoint;

forming a second endpoint;

forming a first metal layer, comprising a plurality of segments;

forming a second metal layer, comprising a plurality of segments;

forming a via layer, comprising a plurality of vias wherein each via is configured and disposed to connect a segment of the first metal layer to a segment of the second metal layer;

wherein the step of forming the first metal layer comprises forming a segment connected to said first endpoint and also comprises forming a segment connected to said second endpoint; and

wherein one of the layers formed is a functional layer, and wherein two of the layers formed are test layers;

performing a resistance measurement between the first endpoint and second endpoint of each of the plurality of scan chains;

indicating a failure if the resistance measurement exceeds a predetermined threshold; and

wherein the step of forming a plurality of scan chains comprises the steps of;

computing the number of scan chains as the number of endpoints divided by two; and

computing the number of segments per chain as the total number of two-ended segments for a given level divided by the number of chains.

8. The method of claim 2, wherein the step of forming a plurality of scan chains comprises associating each scan chain with a functional area of an integrated circuit.

9. The method of claim 2, wherein the step of forming a plurality of scan chains comprises assigning a plurality of functional elements to the test circuits based on physical positioning of each of the plurality of functional elements within the chip.

10. The method of claim 2, wherein the step of forming a via layer for each of the plurality of scan chains comprises forming a functional layer, and the step of forming the first metal layer and the step of comprising the second metal layer comprise forming test layers.

11. The method of claim 2, wherein the step of forming a second metal layer for each of the plurality of scan chains comprises forming a functional layer, and the step of forming a first metal layer and the step of forming a via layer comprise forming test layers.

12. The method of claim 2, wherein the step of forming a first endpoint and the step of forming a second endpoint for each of the plurality of scan chains comprise forming a metal pad.