VISUALLY DETECTING ELECTROSTATIC DISCHARGE EVENTS

• US 20130257624A1
• Filed: 03/28/2012
• Published: 10/03/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 03/28/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: GlobalFoundries, Inc.
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: KINNEAR, John T. Jr., AYOTTE, Stephen P., HILL, David J., RICHARD, Glen E., SULLIVAN, Timothy M., TRUAX, Heather M.
• Granted Patent: US 9,105,573 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 340/657
• CPC Class Codes: G01R 31/002 where the device under test is an electronic circuit
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 22/24 Optical enhancement of defects or not directly visible states, e.g. selective electrolytic deposition, bubbles in liquids, light emission, colour change voltage contrast G01R31/311
• 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
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 29/49124 On flat or curved insulated base, e.g., printed circuit, etc.

Abstract

Methods and structures provide an electrostatic discharge (ESD) indicator including an electric field sensitive material configured to undergo a specific color change in response to an electric field. An exposure of the structure to an ESD can be visually determined via the specific color change of the ESD indicator.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

providing a structure including an electrostatic discharge (ESD) indicator, comprising an electric field sensitive material configured to undergo a specific color change in response to an electric field; and

visually determining an exposure of the structure to an ESD event via the specific color change of the ESD indicator.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the providing the structure including the ESD indicator comprises manufacturing a semiconductor device including the electric field sensitive material.

3. The method of claim 2, where the manufacturing the semiconductor device including the electric field sensitive material comprises incorporating the electric field sensitive material in an layer of the semiconductor device.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the providing the structure including the ESD indicator comprises manufacturing a printed circuit board including the electric field sensitive material.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein undergoing the specific color change comprises changing into one of a plurality of predetermined colors corresponding, respectively, to a plurality of predetermined electric field strength ranges.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the undergoing the specific color change comprises providing a visual indication of cumulative ESD exposure for the structure.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the visually determining the exposure of the structure to the ESD event comprises visually determining a color of the ESD indicator.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the visually determining the color of the ESD indicator comprises:

encoding an image of the structure; and

correlating an area of the encoded image with a color reference.

9. The method of claim 7, further comprising correlating the color of the ESD indicator with reference information corresponding to an ESD severity.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising recording an ESD event history of the structure, the ESD event history associating an identifier of structure with the reference information corresponding to the ESD severity.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the ESD event history of the structure associates the reference information corresponding to the ESD severity with one of a plurality of predefined steps in a process.

12. A structure comprising:

an object; and

an electrostatic discharge (ESD) indicator comprised of an electric field sensitive material that is configured to change into one of a plurality of predetermined colors corresponding, respectively, to a plurality of predetermined electric field strength ranges.

13. The structure of claim 12, wherein the electric field sensitive material is disposed on a surface of the object.

14. The structure of claim 12, wherein the electric field sensitive material is integrated within the object.

15. The structure of claim 12, wherein the object is a semiconductor device.

16. The structure of claim 12, wherein the object is a printed circuit board.

17. The structure of claim 12, wherein the electric field sensitive material is included in an adhesive.

18. The structure of claim 12, wherein the electric field sensitive material is included in a dry-film laminate.

19. The structure of claim 12, wherein the electric field sensitive material is included in a fabric.

20. The structure of claim 12, wherein the ESD indicator is configured to undergo a temporary color change.

21. The structure of claim 12, wherein the ESD indicator is configured to undergo a permanent color change.

22. A computer program product comprising a computer usable storage medium having a computer readable program stored in the medium, wherein the computer readable program, when executed on a computing device, is operable to cause the computing device to:

encode an image of an object including an electrostatic discharge (ESD) indicator;

determine a color of the ESD indicator in areas of the image;

correlate the determined color of the ESD indicator with a color reference;

correlate the color reference to one of a plurality of predetermined ratings of ESD severity; and

record an ESD history of the object, the ESD history associating an identifier of object with the one of the plurality of predetermined ratings of ESD severity.

23. The computer program product of claim 22, wherein the computer readable program is operable to cause the computing device to associate the one of the plurality of predetermined ratings of ESD severity with one of a plurality of predefined steps in a process.