Improving Semiconductor Reliability with Advanced Engineering Methods in Test Program Development

Advancing semiconductor technology in combination with new assembly and packaging technologies areunfolding a new level of challenges for production testing. Reliability of semiconductors should be ensured by applying dedicated techniques within production testing addressing various aging aspects such as: device wear-out related degradation or reduced operational voltage headroom. Thus, test program quality is emerging as a major concern, as it is directly translating into microelectronics reliability and devices quality. With the heightened sensitivity of semiconductor technology to smallest deviations in test methods from the allowed operational range, the risk of accidentally degrading the integrated circuits reliability increases significant. In this paper we propose an approach that addresses the demand for improving semiconductor technology reliability production tests quality. The presented industry usage based case studies, in combination with described techniques, provide a set of valuable practical guidelines.