JP2003194887A - Ic test system and ic measuring method - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an IC test system capable of dispensing with additional installation of a time measuring module, and enlarging a measuring throughput at a low measurement cost. <P>SOLUTION: This IC test system 21 is composed of an IC tester 23 performing the measurement processing, and a performance board 25 capable of installing the measurement environment corresponding to a DUT 7, for example, the specific load and the like. The performance board 25 comprises a time voltage converter 26 for converting the period T of the output waveform of the DUT 7 into a voltage value V3. The IC tester 23 comprises a number of DC electric characteristic measuring modules (DS measuring module) 11, and has a control part for executing a measuring program 29 for performing the requested characteristic measurement. The measuring program is composed of only a current voltage measuring program. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2003,JPO

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to an IC test system and an IC measuring method.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, IC testers have been widely used for measuring the characteristics of ICs. IC tester is IC
A large number of measurement modules and a control unit that executes a measurement program for performing the required characteristic measurement using these measurement modules are provided so that various characteristics of the can be measured at high speed. Then, in order to improve the measurement throughput of ICs of the same type, a plurality of ICs may be simultaneously measured in parallel.

[0003]

As described above, the commercially available I
By using the C tester, a large number of ICs can be measured in parallel at the same time and a predetermined measurement throughput can be secured.
However, although the functions and types of ICs have increased with the widespread use of ICs, the types of IC testers are not always the same.
It does not correspond to C in detail. For example, for vehicle I
For the characteristic evaluation of C, it is necessary to measure the time interval at a high voltage and a large current, but most of the IC testers currently on the market are for measuring time of low voltage, low current and high frequency. . Therefore, when an IC tester capable of measuring high voltage and large current peculiar to a vehicle IC is sought, its range is limited, and for example, a time measuring module for measuring time intervals becomes insufficient.

FIG. 5 shows a test system 1 using such a conventional IC tester. IC test system 1
It is composed of an IC tester 3 that performs a measurement process, and a performance board 5 that can provide a measurement environment suitable for the IC to be measured, for example, a specific load. Performance Board 5
Is a device under test such as an IC DUT (Device U
The lower test) 7 can be detachably attached. The DUT is attached and detached by a handler (not shown). The IC tester 3 includes many DC electrical characteristic measuring modules (DC measuring modules) 11 and one time measuring module 13, and uses these measuring modules to execute a measuring program 15 for performing required characteristic measurement. It has a control unit.

In order to explain the operation of the IC test system 1 having such a configuration, the case where the DUT 7 needs to measure three characteristics of the current I1, the voltage V2 and the period T of the output waveform will be taken up. First, the performance board 5 provided
, N DUTs 7 are supplied from a handler (not shown). Each DUT 7 is connected to a measurement terminal of each current I1 and voltage V2 via the performance board 5 and I
The DC electric characteristic measuring modules 11 of the C tester 3 are connected one by one. Similarly, to the measurement terminal of the cycle T of each DUT,
Time measurement module 1 via performance board 5
3 are connected.

After the DUT 7 is connected in this way, the IC
The measurement program 15 is executed by a control unit (not shown) of the tester 3, and each DC electrical characteristic measurement module 1
1 and the time measurement module 13 measures each DUT 7. In this case, since the DC electric characteristic measuring module 11 can be prepared by the number of DUTs, the DC electric characteristic measuring module 11 for measuring the current I1 and the voltage V2 in the measurement program 15 is used to measure the current of each DUT 7. The measurement of I1 and the voltage V2 can be performed in parallel. Regarding the cycle T of each DUT 7, it is possible to sequentially measure each DUT 7 by using one time measuring module 13.

As described above, the current I for a plurality of DUTs is
1, it is possible to measure the characteristics of the voltage V2 and the cycle T with one IC test system 1. FIG. 6 is a diagram showing the content of the measurement time when measuring N DUTs with this configuration. Here, since the period T is measured using only one time measurement module, only N DUTs can be measured at a time. In other words, the total measurement time is
Parallel measurement time t (I1, V2) of current I1 and voltage V2
And N times the measurement time t (T) of the cycle T. Therefore, as the number N of DUTs simultaneously processed by one IC test system increases, the required measurement time increases, and as a result, the measurement throughput of the test system decreases. To prevent this, either an IC tester equipped with a large number of time measuring modules is used or a time measuring module is added to an existing IC tester, but this requires a high cost and increases the measurement cost.

An object of the present invention is to solve the problems of the prior art and to provide an IC test system and an IC measurement method which can increase the measurement throughput at a low measurement cost without requiring an additional time measurement module. is there.

[0009]

In order to achieve the above object, an IC test system according to the present invention includes a DC electric characteristic measuring module, and measures the DC electric characteristic of an IC and a time interval characteristic of an IC output waveform. In the IC test system described above, a time-voltage converter that is provided between the DC electrical characteristic measuring module and the measurement terminal of the IC to be measured and that converts the time interval of the IC output waveform into a voltage value is provided.

Further, in the IC test system according to the present invention, a plurality of the DC electric characteristic measuring modules are included,
It is characterized in that a plurality of ICs to be measured are measured in parallel.

Further, the IC measuring method according to the present invention includes a DC electric characteristic measuring module, and measures the DC electric characteristic of the IC and the time interval characteristic of the IC output waveform. It is characterized by including a direct current electrical characteristic measuring step of measuring characteristics and a time-voltage conversion measuring step of converting a time interval of an IC output waveform of the IC to be measured into a voltage value and measuring the voltage value.

Further, in the IC measuring method according to the present invention, the DC electric characteristic measuring step and the time-voltage conversion measuring step are performed in parallel for a plurality of ICs to be measured.

The IC test system according to the present invention comprises a time-voltage converter which is provided between the DC electrical characteristic measuring module and the measuring terminal of the IC to be measured and which converts the time interval of the IC output waveform into a voltage value. . That is, the converted voltage value can be measured by the DC electrical characteristic measuring module even when the time such as the period of the output waveform is required for the DUT measurement, and it is not necessary to use the time measuring module of the IC tester. A general IC tester is equipped with a sufficient number of DC electrical characteristic measurement modules, which is inexpensive and
Time can be easily measured by preparing a voltage converter and using a vacant DC electric characteristic measuring module. Therefore, it is possible to increase the measurement throughput at a low measurement cost without adding an additional time measurement module.

Further, in the IC test system according to the present invention, a plurality of the DC electric characteristic measuring modules are included,
A plurality of ICs to be measured are measured in parallel. Even in this case, the number of DUTs to be processed in parallel can be increased by simply adding an inexpensive time-voltage converter according to the number of DUTs to be processed in parallel and to measure the period of the output waveform in parallel. However, the measurement time does not change. Therefore, it is possible to increase the measurement throughput at a low measurement cost without adding an additional time measurement module.

The IC to be measured may be supplied to the IC test system by the handler in the form of a package, I
It may be supplied by an auto-prober in the form of a C wafer. DC electrical characteristic measurement includes analog value measurement of output value, digital value measurement of 0 and 1, threshold value measurement or discrimination, and time measurement includes output waveform cycle measurement and oscillation start. Waveform rising characteristics such as time can be included.

[0016]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings. 1 is a block diagram of an IC test system 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention.
The same elements as those in FIG. For convenience of explanation, the DUT and necessary measurement contents are the same as those in FIG.

The performance board 25 includes a time / voltage converter 27 for converting the cycle T of the output waveform of the DUT 7 into a voltage value V3. The measurement program is composed of only the current-voltage measurement program 29.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of the time / voltage converter 27. The time / voltage converter 27 compares an output processing waveform of the DUT with the input processing unit 41 that processes the waveform in order to specify the time interval to be measured, and the specified time interval is compared with the pulse cycle of a predetermined clock. A counter comparison unit 43 that converts the time interval into the number of clock pulses and a voltage conversion unit 45 that outputs a voltage corresponding to the obtained number of pulses are provided. Each of them can be inexpensively configured by using a known gate, flip-flop, oscillator, digital counter, or other electronic device. The time / voltage converter 27 is
It has an input signal line IN for inputting a waveform whose period should be measured, a trigger signal line CLR for inputting a trigger signal for triggering the start of measurement, and an output signal line for outputting a voltage value obtained by converting the period into a voltage.

The operation of the time / voltage converter 27 having such a configuration will be described with reference to the time chart of FIG. The waveform for which the period T is to be measured is represented by IN. The trigger signal that triggers the start of measurement is indicated by CLR. The input processing unit 41 counts after the rising edge of the trigger signal CLR from these two signals, detects the first rising edge and the next rising edge of the input signal IN, and outputs a waveform Q1 corresponding to the cycle T. The counter comparison unit 43 is an AND (integration process) of a predetermined clock pulse φ supplied internally or separately from the outside and the waveform Q1.
And output clock pulse CL corresponding to the period T
Output KOUT. The voltage conversion unit 45 outputs the voltage value V3 corresponding to the number of pulses of the output clock pulse CLKOUT as the output signal OUT. In this way, the cycle T is converted into the voltage value V3.

With this configuration, when each DUT 7 is supplied by a handler (not shown), the output terminals of the current I1 and the voltage V2 of each DUT 7 are connected to the performance board 2.
It is connected to the direct current electrical characteristic measuring module 11 via 5. Further, the measurement terminal of the cycle T of each DUT 7 is connected to another vacant DC electric characteristic measurement module 11 via the time / voltage converter 27 in the performance board 25. A general IC tester has a sufficient number of DC electric characteristic measuring modules, and it is possible to prepare an inexpensive time-voltage converter and use an empty DC electric characteristic measuring module.

When each DUT 7 is connected, the control program (not shown) of the IC tester 23 executes the measurement program 29, and each DC electric characteristic measurement module 11
The DUT 7 is measured by. In this case, the cycle T
Has already been converted to the voltage V3, all measurements can be performed only by the DC electrical characteristic measurement module 11, and the measurement program 29 can be performed only by the current-voltage measurement program. Therefore, the current I1, the voltage V2, and the cycle T of each DUT 7 can be measured in parallel by using the DC electrical characteristic measurement module 11.

That is, first, a DC electric characteristic measuring step for measuring the DC electric characteristic of the IC to be measured is performed. In this step, the DC electric characteristic measuring module 11 is used to measure the current I1 and voltage V of each DUT by using the current-voltage measuring program.
This is a step of measuring 2 in parallel.

Next, a time-voltage conversion measuring step of converting the time interval of the IC output waveform of the IC to be measured into a voltage value and measuring the voltage value is performed. In this step, the time-voltage converter 27 converts the period T into a voltage value V3 in parallel for each DUT using a current-voltage measurement program, and the other DC electrical characteristic measuring module 11 measures the voltage V3. It is a process. The trigger signal CLR that triggers the measurement start of the time / voltage converter 27 is supplied from a trigger signal generator (not shown) by the current-voltage measurement program.
The trigger signal can also be supplied by using the function of the DC electrical characteristic measuring module.

In this way, the current I for a plurality of DUTs is
It is possible to measure the characteristics of 1, the voltage V2, and the cycle T by one IC test system 21. FIG. 4 is a diagram showing the content of the measurement time when measuring N DUTs with this configuration. The total measurement time is current I1, voltage V2
And the parallel measurement time t (I
1, V2, V3), which does not change even if the number of DUTs 7 increases. That is, it is possible to increase the measurement throughput by providing an inexpensive time-voltage converter on the performance board without adding a time measurement module.

The DUT may be supplied to the IC test system by the handler in the form of a package or by an autoprober in the form of an IC wafer. The DUT in the form of a package may include an integrated circuit or a single device. When in the form of an IC wafer, a compound semiconductor element can be included in addition to a silicon IC.

The time-voltage converter is not directly mounted on the performance board, but the DC electric characteristic measuring module and the DUT are mounted.
It can also be installed at a position suitable for measurement between and.

The DC electrical characteristic measurement includes analog value measurement of the output value, digital value measurement of 0 and 1, threshold value measurement or discrimination, and the time measurement includes the rising of the output waveform and the following. In addition to measuring the period between rising and falling and the next falling, measuring the time interval between rising and falling edges, measuring the time interval between two or more different output waveforms, and waveforms such as oscillation start time Rise characteristics and the like can be included. It may also include other DC electrical characteristics such as resistance measurements.

Although the current-voltage measuring program is used in the description, other DC electric characteristic measuring programs such as resistance value measurement may be included in accordance with the measurement of the DC electric characteristic. The order of the measurement programs can be arbitrarily changed, for example, the time / voltage conversion measurement step is performed first.

[0029]

As described above, the IC test system and the IC measuring method according to the present invention can increase the measurement throughput at a low measurement cost without adding an additional time measuring module.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an IC test system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a time / voltage converter in an IC test system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a time chart of each signal of the time / voltage converter in the IC test system of the embodiment according to the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing the contents of measurement time in the IC test system according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram of a test system using an IC tester of a conventional example.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing the contents of measurement time in an IC test system of a conventional example.

[Explanation of symbols]

1,21 Test system, 3,23 Tester, 5,2
5 Performance board, 7 DUT, 11 DC electrical characteristics measurement module, 13 hours measurement module, 1
5,29 measurement program, 27 hours / voltage converter,
41 input processing unit, 43 counter comparing unit, 45 voltage converting unit.

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A direct current electrical characteristic measuring module, comprising:
In an IC test system for measuring the DC electrical characteristic of C and the time interval characteristic of the IC output waveform, the IC test system is provided between the DC electrical characteristic measuring module and the measurement terminal of the IC to be measured, and the time interval of the IC output waveform is set to a voltage value. IC having a time / voltage converter for converting to
Test system. 2. The IC test system according to claim 1, comprising a plurality of the DC electric characteristic measuring modules,
I characterized in that a plurality of ICs to be measured are measured in parallel
C test system. 3. A direct current electrical characteristic measuring module is included,
In the IC measuring method for measuring the DC electrical characteristic of C and the time interval characteristic of the IC output waveform, the DC electrical characteristic measuring step of measuring the DC electrical characteristic of the IC to be measured and the time interval of the IC output waveform of the IC to be measured are A time / voltage conversion measurement step of converting the voltage value and measuring the voltage value,
An IC measuring method comprising: 4. The IC measuring method according to claim 3, wherein the DC electric characteristic measuring step and the time-voltage conversion measuring step are performed in parallel for a plurality of ICs to be measured. Measuring method.