Programmable semiconductor wafer for sensing, recording and retrieving fabrication process conditions to which the wafer is exposed
First Claim
1. A semiconductor wafer for sensing and recording processing conditions to which the wafer is exposed, comprising:
- a semiconductor substrate having a plurality of regions spaced upon one surface of said substrate;
at least one sensor lithography formed within each of said regions for producing during use an analog signal responsive to a processing condition;
a signal acquisition/conditioning circuit coupled to an output of said sensor and lithography formed upon said substrate for converting said analog signals to digital signals;
a microprocessor system lithography formed upon said substrate having a stored instruction set, said system comprises;
an input port coupled to an output of said acquisition/conditioning circuit for receiving said digital signals; and
a random access memory having an addressable data bus connected to said input port for recording said digital signal during times in which a select said stored instruction set is executed.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A semiconductor wafer is provided for sensing and recording processing conditions to which the wafer is exposed. The wafer can also write the recorded processing conditions to an external output device connectable to the wafer. The wafer includes a plurality of regions spaced across the wafer, and at least one sensor placed within each region. The sensor can sense a single processing condition such as, e.g., pressure, temperature, fluidic flow rate, or gas composition. If more than one processing condition is to be measured, then more than one sensor can be placed in each region to provide a sensed reading across the entire wafer surface necessary for gradient measurements. The wafer further includes signal acquisition/conditioning circuit which receives analog signals from each of the sensors placed upon the wafer and converts the analog signals to corresponding digital signals. Digital signals can then be stored within and processed by a processor also formed within the wafer. The semiconductor wafer further includes input/output probe pads which receive external input to the wafer circuitry and output stored information from the circuitry.
218 Citations
20 Claims
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1. A semiconductor wafer for sensing and recording processing conditions to which the wafer is exposed, comprising:
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a semiconductor substrate having a plurality of regions spaced upon one surface of said substrate; at least one sensor lithography formed within each of said regions for producing during use an analog signal responsive to a processing condition; a signal acquisition/conditioning circuit coupled to an output of said sensor and lithography formed upon said substrate for converting said analog signals to digital signals; a microprocessor system lithography formed upon said substrate having a stored instruction set, said system comprises; an input port coupled to an output of said acquisition/conditioning circuit for receiving said digital signals; and a random access memory having an addressable data bus connected to said input port for recording said digital signal during times in which a select said stored instruction set is executed. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11)
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12. A semiconductor wafer for sensing, recording and retrieving processing conditions to which the wafer is exposed, comprising:
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a semiconductor substrate having a plurality of regions spaced upon one surface of said substrate; a plurality of sensors lithography formed within each of said regions for producing during use a plurality of analog signals responsive to a plurality of processing conditions existing across substantially the entire said substrate; a multiplex circuit coupled to receive said plurality of analog signals from said plurality of sensors; a sample and hold circuit coupled to serially receive multiplex output from said multiplex circuit and temporarily store said multiplex output; an analog-to-digital converter coupled to the output of said sample and hold circuit for producing a plurality of digital signals corresponding to respective said plurality of analog signal; a microprocessor system lithography formed upon said substrate having a programmable read only memory for storing an instruction set, said system comprises; an input port coupled to an output of said analog-to-digital converter for receiving said digital signals; a random access memory having an addressable data bus connected to said input port for recording said digital signals within said random access memory during times in which a select said stored instruction set is executed; and an output probe pad arranged upon said semiconductor substrate capable of electrical connection to an external output device for retrieving said digital signals from said random access memory during times in which a select said stored instruction set is executed. - View Dependent Claims (13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 19, 20)
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18. A method for sensing, recording and retrieving processing conditions into and from a semiconductor wafer, comprising the steps of:
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providing a semiconductor substrate having a plurality of sensors spaced upon said substrate; sensing a plurality of processing conditions placed upon said semiconductor substrate; assigning an analog signal to each of said plurality of processing conditions; multiplexing each analog signal into a stream of analog signals; converting said stream of analog signals into a plurality of digital signals; and encoding each of said plurality of digital signals and placing said encoded digital signals upon a data bus connected to an array of memory cells.
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Specification