1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to integrated circuits, and more specifically to the layout and use of bond pads and probe pads for testing integrated circuit devices.
2. Related Art
Improvements in semiconductor processing technology have resulted in integrated circuit chips which are more densely populated with microelectronic elements and which provide more functionality than ever before. A chip can be a semiconductor die which is a monolithic structure formed from, for example, silicon or another suitable material.
In the competitive market for integrated circuits, especially for memory devices such as dynamic random access memory (DRAM), it is essential for providers to produce chips which are free of defects. Logic and memory tests are thus performed before a wafer is cut and the die are packaged. A silicon wafer is composed of many separate die. Each die is separated from the adjacent die by a scribe area and each die includes conductive bonding pads. Testing machines typically have a probe card that is lowered to make contact with bonding pads on the wafer in order to test the respective die.
A probe card has multiple needles or pins that lie in a plane with a spacing or pitch between the pins. For the probe pins to make contact with the bonding pads, pressure must be exerted on the pins. If any of the pins is vertically misaligned, additional pressure must be exerted so that all of the pins make contact. The pressure of the pins contacting the surface of the die gouges the bonding pads. Furthermore, in a technique referred to as overdrive, probe pins are made to slide on the surface of the bonding pads in order to remove any aluminum oxide on the surface so that better contact can be achieved. This sliding action results in even larger gouges in the bond pads. Typically, to penetrate the oxide, the probe card and wafer are brought together until the needle probes contact the desired location. The probe card is then “overdriven” a distance which deflects the needle probes and causes them to bend. As the needle probes bend, the ends of the needle probes move horizontally across the bonding pads causing the ends to scrape the surface. This causes the ends to break through the native oxide layer and contact the underlying metal of the bonding pads. The scraping action also displaces some of the metal on the contact location causing a groove and a corresponding ridge.
The gouges in the bond pads resulting from even a single probing operation or “touchdown” weaken subsequent wire bonds to the bond pads. Multiple probing operations and any misalignment of the probe pins can result in severe damage to the bond pads and very poor wire bonding. For most integrated circuits, a wire is bonded to the pad after one or sometimes two touchdowns of the probe pins. However, memory testing may require several touchdowns of the probe pins for numerous reasons including laser repair and subsequent retest.
Small voids can form above the gouges created by one or more touchdowns. These voids between the bond pad and the bond wire create high stress points which may weaken and enlarge over time from thermal cycling, thus resulting in cracks which separate the bond wire from the bond pad. Thermal cycling occurs throughout the life of an integrated circuit device and the failure may occur many years after the initial fabrication and testing.
Semiconductor processing technology is advancing faster than probe card technology. Semiconductor processing technology now allows for a very high density of the integrated circuits and associated bond pads such that, for example, 60 micron bond pads can be spaced with a pitch, or separation between the pads of only 50 microns. Tightly spaced bond pads require probe cards with tightly spaced probe pins, thus the pins must be of a very small diameter. Thinner probe pins are more fragile and can be damaged in the process of testing. Furthermore, probe cards with pins spaced every 50 microns are much more expensive and less durable than standard probe cards with pins spaced about every 100–120 microns.
Another problem with probing the bond pads is that the contact locations on the die necessary for probing are larger than the contact regions needed for wire bonding. In particular, due to the inaccuracies in the x-y placement of the probe pins, the contact locations on the die must be made large enough to accommodate alignment variations between probe cards. This requires that the contact locations be made larger by default, which in turn makes the die larger.
One aspect of the invention is an integrated circuit die comprising functional circuitry, a plurality of bonding pads, each bond pad associated with a respective portion of the functional circuitry and for bonding the respective portion of the functional circuitry, at least one probe pad for testing of the functional circuitry, and multiplexing circuitry between the probe pad and the bond pads, the multiplexing circuitry for multiplexing signals between the probe pad and each of the respective portions of the functional circuitry, thus allowing the respective portions of functional circuitry to be tested using the probe pad and without any contact of the plurality of bond pads by a probe needle.
Another aspect of the invention is a method of testing functional circuitry of an integrated circuit having a test pad and a plurality of bond pads, each bond pad associated with a respective portion of the functional circuitry and for bonding out the respective portions of the functional circuitry, the method comprising contacting the test pad with a probe needle, and conveying a signal between the probe needle and at least one respective portion of the functional circuitry via the test pad, thus allowing the respective portions of functional circuitry to be tested using the test pad and without any contact of the plurality of bond pads by the probe needle.
A further aspect of the invention is a method of testing functional circuitry of an integrated circuit die comprising providing a probe pad on the integrated circuit die for a plurality of bonding pads, the probe pad for testing the functional circuitry, the bonding pads for boding out respective portions of the functional circuitry, and providing switching circuitry on the integrated circuit die for multiplexing signals between the probe pad and the respective portions of the functional circuitry, thereby allowing the respective portions of functional circuitry to be tested without any contact of the bonding pads by a probe needle.
Yet another aspect of the invention is a method of testing a plurality of integrated circuit dies arranged in rows on a wafer, each integrated circuit die having probe pads along one edge, the method comprising contacting the probe pads of integrated circuit dies on two rows of the wafer simultaneously with a plurality of probe needles of a probe arm, and conveying respective signals between the probe needles and the contacted probe pads of the integrated circuit dies.
A more complete understanding of the present invention will be afforded to those skilled in the art, as well as a realization of the advantages thereof, by a consideration of the following detailed description of one or more embodiments. Reference will be made to the drawings that will first be described briefly.
In order to avoid bonding to a bond pad that has been damaged by the probing process, in a first aspect of the invention a probe pad electrically connected to multiple bond pads is provided. In another aspect of the invention, a sacrificial bond pad is used to test the functional circuitry associated with multiple other bond pads. The probe pad or sacrificial bond pad is used to test the circuits and the other bond pads are not contacted by probe needles during testing. As such, a high quality connection to the bond wire can be achieved, and separation of the bond wire from the bond pads can be avoided or minimized. Thus, a more reliable chip with less field failures is fabricated. In a competitive market where reliability is a distinguishing factor, a reduced failure rate is essential.
Multiplexing or switchably connecting the bond pads and the probe pads allows testing of multiple circuits with a single probe or bond pad. Further, the test pad (either probe or bond) can be located remotely from the circuitry that is being tested. One aspect of the invention includes probe pads located on one side of the die used to test circuit elements on an opposite side and on the ends of the die. This, together with efficient layout of the test pads, allows a single arm of the probe card to test multiple dies at once, according to another aspect of the invention. The probe pads can be used for testing after the regular bond pads are bonded to the package substrate (which is connected directly to an ASIC die or other chips of a multichip module) during final assembly. The probe pads can intern be bonded to external pins. Probe pad location may be conveniently placed for optimized substrate (package) routing that may be far from where the normal bond pads need to be to connect to the ASIC die (or other chips in the package). Thus, the probe pads that were initially used for testing the die may be used as bond pads after subsequent packaging of the die into larger assemblies.
A further aspect of the invention is oversizing of the probe pad relative to the bond pad to ensure that any error in the x-y placement of the probe pins is accommodated and does not result in a false test result.
Many variations in the arrangement of the bond and/or probe pads on an integrated circuit die are within the scope of the present invention.
Referring to
Furthermore, the present invention is applicable to other types of integrated circuit devices. For example, the present invention is also applicable to logic chips, such as gate arrays or programmable logic devices, and processor or specialized chips, such as an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a microprocessor, a microcontroller, or a digital signal processor (DSP).
As depicted, integrated circuit die 100 has a number of bond pads 105 (only some of which for clarity are labeled) and probe pads 110 (only one of which for clarity is labeled) on the face of the die. Some bond pads 105 can be located at one edge of the integrated circuit die 100, while other bond pads 105 can be located at an opposite edge of the die 100. In this embodiment, probe pads 110 are shown as being larger than bond pads 105. However, in other embodiments, probe pads 110 may be the same size or larger than bond pads 105. A larger probe pad provides ore margin of error, and thus greater tolerance for misplacement, of a probe pin during testing. A larger probe pad also generally allows for a greater pitch between the probe pads, thus allowing more space between pins in a probe card. Probing involves touching a probe pin to a test pad, which can be either a dedicated probe pad or a bond pad. For the purposes of the application, the term “test pad” refers to either a bond pad or a dedicated probe pad which is used during testing of the integrated circuit die. If a relatively small, dedicated probe pad is used, or if a bond pad is used as a probe pad, the pitch of the probe pads can be around 100 microns, which allows the usage of standard pitch probe cards rather than requiring more expensive, non-standard pitch probe cards.
Both bond pads 105 and probe pads 110 are located at the edges of die 100. In one embodiment, each probe pad 110 may be provided for two or more bond pads 105. Each probe pad 110 can be used to test the functional circuitry associated with corresponding plurality of bond pads 105. Testing of the functional circuitry is described below in more detail with regard to
Another exemplifying integrated circuit die 200 is shown in
Referring to
Functional circuitry blocks 140a and 140b may comprise any number of microelectronic components which are intended to provide some kind of functionality, such as memory or logic. For example, functional circuitry block 140a and 140b may include a block or array of memory cells, each of which functions to store a bit of data.
Buffers 130a and 130b are electrically coupled to the input terminals of a multiplexer (MUX) 120. The output terminal of MUX 120 is coupled to probe pad 110. During testing, test data may be generated by functional circuitry blocks 140a and 140b. A signal for conveying the test data from functional circuitry block 140a is driven by I/O buffer 140a. A different test signal for conveying the test data from functional circuitry block 140b is driven by I/O buffer 130b. The test signals are multiplexed by MUX 120 and the output signal is sent to probe pad 110. A probe pin of a testing apparatus is brought into contact with probe pad 110. The output signal from MUX 120 is picked up by the probe pin. In this way, test configuration 400 allows the functional circuitry blocks 140a and 140b associated with multiple bond pads 105a and 105b to be tested without any contact to the bond pads 105, thereby avoiding any damage to the same. Although only two functional circuitry blocks are illustrated, this configuration also allows for multiplexing test signals from additional functional circuitry blocks.
A test signal or pattern is introduced to the integrated circuit die through a pin of a probe card in contact with probe pad 110. To test the operation of any particular functional circuitry block 140, the respective switch 150 is closed and the remaining switches 150 are opened. The test signal then passes through the associated bond pad 105 and is driven by buffer 132a into the desired functional circuitry block 140. This embodiment as illustrated by testing configuration 500 can be used to test the functional circuitry associated with all of the bond pads 105 of an integrated circuit die. In this way, none of the bond pads 105 are contacted by a probe pin during testing, and thus they remain in an optimal state for subsequent wire bonding.
To test another functional circuitry block 140 (i.e., 140a, 140b, or 140c), the respective switch 150 is closed and the remaining switches are opened. The probe pin is brought into contact with bond pad 105d and the test signal is transmitted through the closed switch 150, the respective bond pad 105 and buffer 132 into the desired functional circuitry block 140.
In testing configuration 600, contact by a probe pin is made with only one bond pad 105 out of a group of bond pads 105, thereby limiting any resultant damage to the contacted bond pad 105 while allowing the functional circuitry blocks 140 associated with the other bond pads 105 to be tested. Although this example illustrates the use of one bond pad 105 to test the circuitry associated with four bond pads, additional functional circuitry blocks associated with additional bond pads 105 on the circuit die can be tested by contacting only one bond pad according to this embodiment of the invention. Because only one bond pad of a group of bond pads is used to test the circuitry, the pitch of the probe needles can be increased, and a standard probe card can be used. For example, if the pitch between adjacent bond pads 105 in a row is 50 microns and only one out of four bond pads is used for testing, the pitch between adjacent probe pins can be 200 microns. Thus, a standard, less expensive, and more durable probe card can be used for testing of an integrated circuit die, even one with a very high density of microelectronics. This configuration is also advantageous because no additional metal layer is required for providing dedicated probe pads, while a large percentage of bond pads are not contacted by any probe pins prior to bonding operations.
In the various embodiments described herein, the arrangement of test pads (either dedicated probe pads or a subset of bond pads) and/or multiplexing of the test signals may provide greater efficiency when testing the functional circuitry of one or more integrated circuit dies. Furthermore, the use of one test pad to test the functional circuitry associated with many bond pads reduces or eliminates the damage associated with touchdowns of a probe card/head on the bond pads, and therefore allows for more optimal bonding operations for the integrated circuit die after testing. Embodiments of the invention also allow for a larger pitch between the test pads, and thereby enables the use of a standard probe card which is less fragile and more economical than a probe card with pins arranged more closely together. This is even more advantageous as integrated circuit processing technology results in ever denser circuitry that requires significant testing and bond pads which are even more tightly spaced.
While particular embodiments of the present invention and their advantages have been shown and described, it should be understood that various changes, substitutions, and alterations can be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims. For example, any number of arrangements of the bond and probe pads on an integrated circuit die is within the scope of the invention. As another example, other combinations of switches, buffers, probe pads, and multiplexers than are shown in the embodiments are also possible as defined in the appended claims.
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