Transient module guarantees high defect coverage

A new measurement module enables a quick and easy application of transient current tests in a production test environment.

Q-Star Test, the premier supplier of advanced high speed and highly accurate IDD test and measurement solutions presents its new QT-1411 IDDT transient current monitor module.

IC manufacturing technologies scaling down to ever-smaller geometries in combination with an increasing number of interconnection layers result in a shift of the dominant defect type from short to opens.

Anticipating the growing importance of new defects types (such as resistive contacts and vias) as well as the strong demand from the semiconductor market for more advanced test solutions and strategies helping to reduce the cost of test without sacrificing and even improving product quality, Q-Star Test developed a new measurement module that enables a quick and easy application of IDDT tests in a production test environment.

The module provides as well a solution to quickly detect resistive vias and other open defect related manufacturing problems.

The QT-1411 advanced IDDT monitor is a fast and sensitive dynamic/transient supply current (IDDT) monitor; with a digital interface, a large onboard capture memory and on-line data processing capabilities, primarily designed for ATE addon application.

The QT-1411 serves both analogue and digital current measurement applications.

The QT-1411 is tester independent and can be used in combination with any ATE available on the market.

It is the first high performance and simple to use IDDT monitoring solution available on the market that serves as well engineering as production applications.

The QT-1411 can be configured for measurement ranges starting from 5mA up to 100A and combines a user configurable 2-50Msample/s sampling rate with a 10MHz input bandwidth, a 14bit digital resolution, a 3MHz maximal measurement repetition rate, a minimal measurement window of 20ns (20ms maximum when sampling at 50MHz, 0.5s when sampling at 2MHz), a 5uA (at 10mA) current measurement resolution, and a 0.1pC (at 10mA range) charge resolution.

The monitor is equipped with onboard processing capabilities and a large 256Ksample memory.

The QT-1411 is able to measure and store the (dynamic) current waveform measured and to simultaneously and real time determine the related charge, peak and pulsewidth values.

Its large capture memory and fast memory readout function enables to capture a full current signature and supports advanced off-line signal analysis.

The module has a simple three-wire serial interface for configuring and collecting measurement data and the supporting driver package simplifies the integration of the monitor control in the test program.

Depending on application constraints, the QT-1411 is configured for use as either as a serial or as a parallel measurement device.

The serial application allows high-speed high-resolution measurements and is suited for measurement ranges up to 5A, reduced capacitive loading and DUT supply voltages in the -5 to +5V range.

The parallel application targets measurement ranges above 500mA and/or DUT supply voltages up to 50V, supporting for example automotive IC applications.

Without the need for any supporting components and thanks to its SIL footprint, the QT-1411 can be easily integrated on a probe card or load- or DUT-board for application during wafer or final test.

The QT-1411's unique design ensures transparency to both the ATE and the device under test (DUT) and does not affect the execution of any other test.

When inserted in the DUT supply path (serial application), the QT-1411 causes only a negligible voltage drop.

When used as a parallel device the module itself causes no voltage drop and does not affect the DUT' supply level or its operation.

"Our new IDDT monitor solution will help IC manufacturers to improve and optimise their test flows for deep submicron and nanotechnologies, offers a cost effective way to cope with DSM and nano test problems and provides a faster and easier way to screen out devices with opens and resistive via problems".

"Combined with our advanced IDDQ measurement solutions, we are now offering a solution that covers the complete current spectrum and guarantees a high defect coverage for multi-million-gate components at minimal test efforts and costs".

"IDDT testing also offers a proper alternative for complex timing and delay tests", states Dr Hans Manhaeve, President and CEO of Q-Star Test.

The standard price for the QT-1411 monitor module, consisting of the measurement hardware as well as customer specific firmware (test strategy related), is set to Eur 3700 per piece.

Quantity discounts will be related to the number of devices ordered over a predefined period.

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