JPH06213965A - Connection of tester and device board - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To reduce circuit designing man-hours and to improve the maintenance property of the completed circuit by connecting a tester and a device board in response to the result of the comparison of the number of the points to be measured on the device board and the number of a tester resources. CONSTITUTION:The data of a device board circuit and the setting condition data for every test are stored into the specified region of a memory device 3 as a circuit database 4 and a setting-condition base 5 through an input/output device 2. The circuit formation of a device board circuit is performed based on the data of the bases 4 and 5 and the tester-function specifications of a tester-specification base 6, which are stored in the device 3 beforehand, with a circuit forming part 7 constituted of a microcomputer. The results are stored as a circuit database 8 and a setting-condition base 9 after the formation. At this time, the tester resources, which are added in excess of the specifications of the tester, are displayed 10 through the device 2 with the forming part 7. Thus, the circuit, wherein the tester, the resources and relays are ratinally used, can be formed.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method for connecting a tester (measuring device) and a device board, and more particularly to a peripheral circuit for measuring the characteristics of a multi-terminal device such as a semiconductor integrated circuit (IC). The present invention relates to a wiring method for connecting a device board and a tester.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art The characteristics of an IC, which is a multi-terminal device, is measured by using a dedicated tester. However, the characteristics and specifications of this tester are not uniform among manufacturers. And specifications are different. Therefore, when measuring the characteristics of the IC, a peripheral circuit (hereinafter referred to as a device board) that conforms to the characteristics and specifications of the tester to be used is designed, and this device board is interposed between the tester and the characteristics of the IC. It is possible to measure.

[0003]

By the way, conventionally, when connecting a tester and a device board, a test engineer who specializes in the design of the device board is based on the specifications of the tester used when designing the device board. Then, a method of connecting the measured point of the device board and the tester resource (resource) is adopted so that all the measurement items can be satisfied. However, specialized knowledge is required for circuit design, a lot of man-hours are required, and the individuality of the test engineer appears in the completed circuit, so the wiring rules are not uniform and the maintainability afterwards is poor. There was a problem. Further, since the test engineer does not always make the most rational connection, the tester resource may be wasted depending on the connection method.

The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and an object of the present invention is to significantly reduce the number of circuit design steps, to maintain a completed circuit with excellent maintainability, and to rationalize tester resources. It is to provide a method of connecting a usable tester and a device board.

[0005]

In order to achieve the above object, in the wiring method according to the present invention, the number n of measured points on the device board and the number M of tester resources are read from the database, and the number n of measured points is measured. And the number M of resources are compared, and the tester and the device board are connected according to the comparison result. Then, the comparison result is n ≦
When M, a netlist is created in which resources are directly connected to each measured point, and the comparison result is n> M.
In the case of, the minimum number N of resources required to satisfy all the measurements is obtained, the setting value to be shared by the N resources is obtained, and the N resources and the measurement point are set as the measurement conditions. Use a relay to connect the wires so that they are satisfied.

[0006]

[Function] The netlist in which the measured point and the tester resource are directly connected or connected via the relay is automatically calculated from the settings of the device board circuit and the measured point for each test, and the number of each resource possessed by each tester. To create. Then, the settings for each measurement of the used tester resource and relay are automatically created and stored in a file.

[0007]

Embodiments of the present invention will now be described in detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 4 is a system conceptual diagram showing an example of a device board circuit designing apparatus according to the present invention. In FIG. 4, an operator inputs data regarding a device board circuit and data regarding a setting condition for each test from an input unit 1 such as a keyboard, and these data are input to a predetermined area of a storage device 3 through an input / output device 2 to a circuit database. 4 and setting condition base 5 are stored. The memory device 3 stores in advance a tester specification base 6 in which the functional specifications of the tester are described.

The respective data of the circuit database 4, the setting condition base 5 and the tester specification base 6 are supplied to the circuit synthesizing section 7 as information necessary for synthesizing the circuit of the device board circuit. The circuit synthesizer 7 is composed of a microcomputer, and includes a circuit database 4 and a setting condition base 5.
And circuit synthesis processing of the device board circuit is performed based on each data of the tester specification base 6, and the data regarding the synthesized device board circuit and the data regarding the setting condition for each test are synthesized in a predetermined area of the storage device 3 It is recorded as the database 8 and the setting condition base 9. At this time, the tester resources added by the circuit synthesizing unit 7 beyond the specifications of the tester are displayed on the display 10 through the input / output device 2 so that the operator can identify them.

Next, the algorithm of the connection method according to the present invention executed by the synthesis circuit unit 7 will be described with reference to FIGS.
It will be described in accordance with the flowchart of. First, the number n of measured points to be connected to the tester resource from the circuit of the device board is read from the database (step S1), and the number M of the tester resource is read from the database in which the functional specifications of the tester are described (step S2). ), And subsequently, it is determined whether or not the number n of measured points is larger than the number M of tester resources (step S).
3). If n ≦ M, the tester resources at each measured point on the device board are directly connected one by one (step S
4) Then, the state to be set of the measured point is read from the database, the value is set as the set value of the data resource directly connected to each connection point (step S5), and a series of connection processing is ended.

Here, a case where the number n of measured points on the device board is 5 and the number M of tester resources is 6 will be described as an example. It should be noted that FIG. 5 shows an example of setting conditions of the measured point. In the case of this example, the number n (= 5) of measured points on the device board is the number M (= 6) of tester resources.
Therefore, as shown in FIG. 6, the tester resources (voltage resources) V _{1 to} V ₅ are directly connected to the measured points L _{1 to} L ₅ of the device board to set the tester resources. 7 shows the tester resource setting conditions.

If n> M in step S3,
The setting conditions for each measurement item at each measured point on the device board and tester resource are read (step S6). And
It is determined whether a plurality of different measured points may have the same setting conditions for all measurement items (step S7),
If there are cases where the same setting conditions are met, those measured points are aggregated into one measured point (step S8). here,
An example will be described in which the number n of measured points on the device board is 6 and the number M of tester resources is 3. It should be noted that FIG. 8 shows an example of setting conditions of the measured point. In the case of this example, as is apparent from FIG. 8, six measured points L ₁
Because there is nothing to be exactly the same configuration items T1~T4 in ~L _6, the process of aggregating a plurality of measured points in the measured point L ₁ ~L ₆ one not performed.

After the processing of step S7 or step S8 is completed, all the settings a used in all measurement items are extracted, and the set is set as A (step S9). In the case of this example,
The settings used for all measurement items are (1V, 2V, 3V, 4
V, 5V, 7V, 8V), the above seven are set in the set A. Next, the minimum required number N of tester resources is set to 0 (step S10), E is set to an empty set (step S11), and then a set obtained by subtracting the set E from the set A is set to F (step S12). In the first process, since the set E is an empty set, the set F is the set A.
Becomes

Next, it is judged whether F is an empty set (step S13), and if it is not an empty set, the minimum required number N of tester resources is increased by one (step S1).
4), one element a included in the set F is extracted (step S15), all the settings other than the setting a used at the same time as the setting a are extracted through all the measurement items, and the set is set as B (step S15). Step S16). Subsequently, a set C is obtained by subtracting the set B from the set A (step S17),
Of the elements included in this set C, a set of settings connected to the same measured point as the setting a is D (step S18),
It is determined whether the element of the set D is only the setting a (step S19).

In step S19, if there is only the setting a, the set C is set as the set D (step S20). After that, if it is not the setting a, all the measured points using the settings included in the set D are used as they are. And one tester resource are connected via a relay (step S21). Then, the setting conditions of the tester resource and the relay are determined from the setting conditions of all the measurement items at each measured point and recorded in the database (step S22), and then the minimum required number N of tester resources is set. Determines whether the number is larger than the number M of tester resources read from the database (step S23).

If N ≦ M in step S23, a new provisional tester resource is automatically generated (step S24), and subsequently identification information at the time of screen display is added to the tester resource (step S25). Then, if N> M, the set D is added to the set E as it is (step S26). Then, the process returns to step S12 and the above-described processing is repeated.

Here, in the processing of step S15,
Element a (1V, 2V, 3V, 4V, 5V, 7V, 8
Consider the case of selecting V) in this order. When it is 1V, the set D is only 1V, and one of the tester resources is used at 1V. Even at 2V, the set D is only 2V, and one of the tester resources is used at 2V. In the case of 3V, the set D has three sets of 3V, 4V, and 5V, and one of the tester resources is used while changing the setting to (3V, 4V, 5V).

When the voltage is 4, 5V, it is not included in the set F and is not processed. When the voltage is 7V, the set D has two voltages of 7V and 8V, and one of the tester resources is used while changing the setting to (7V, 8V). However, since the number N (= 4) which has already exceeded the number M (= 3) of tester resources, a new provisional tester resource is created for convenience in step S24 and step S25 so that the operator can determine later. Then, a process of adding identification information to this tester resource is performed.

By the above processing, the minimum required number N of tester resources is N = 4, each of which is connected to the device board as shown in FIG. 9, and the setting conditions are determined as shown in FIG. In FIG. 9, R _{1 to} R ₁₂ are relays. Further, in FIG. 10, (a) shows a relay setting condition, and (b) shows a voltage resource setting condition.

If F is an empty set in step S13, the number of measured points to which each tester resource is connected is read (step S27), and then the tester connected to only one measured point is read. It is determined whether there are resources (step S28). In this example, as is apparent from FIG. 9, six tester resources V ₁ are L _{1 to} L ₆ , three tester resources V ₂ are L _{1 to} L ₃ , and four tester resources V ₃ are L _4. Of the tester resource V ₄ is L ₅ ,
Two of L ₆ are respectively connected. Therefore, it can be seen that only one tester resource V ₃ is connected to the measured point L ₄ .

As described above, if there is a tester resource connected to only one measured point, the corresponding measured point is directly connected to the tester resource, and all connections to other tester resources are erased (step S29). That is,
In the case of this example, erases the relay R ₈ is directly connected to the measured point L ₄ and tester resources V _3, the relay R ₇ to a non-connection between the measured point L ₄ and tester resources V ₁ to erase. FIG. 11 shows a circuit in which the tester resource V ₃ and the measured point L ₄ are directly connected.

Next, the state to be set of the corresponding measured point is read from the database, and the value is set as the set value of the tester resource directly connected (step S30), and then the connection with the corresponding measured point is deleted. The setting conditions of the selected tester resource are reset (step S31). FIG. 12 shows a relay setting condition (a) for the circuit of FIG.
And setting condition (b) of the tester resource are shown respectively. Next, it is determined whether there is an unused tester resource (step S32), and if there is no unused tester resource, the series of connection processing is terminated as it is.

On the other hand, if there are unused tester resources, the remaining tester resources are directly connected to the measured point to which many relays are connected (step S3).
3). Here, assuming that the number M of tester resources is 5, M = 5, and therefore, there are surplus tester resources V ₅ . Here, as is apparent from the circuit of FIG. 11, measured points L _{1 to} L ₃ , L ₅ , and L _{6 are} measured.
Since there are two relays in all of the above, for convenience, the measured point L ₁ is directly connected to the tester resource V ₅ ,
Further, the relay between the measured point L ₁ and the tester resources V ₁ and V ₂ is erased. FIG. 13 shows a circuit in which the tester resource V ₅ and the measured point L ₁ are directly connected when M = 5.

Next, the state to be set of the corresponding measured point is read from the database, and the value is set as the set value of the tester resource directly connected (step S34), and then the connection with the corresponding measured point is deleted. The set condition of the tester resource thus set is set again (step S35), and a series of connection processing is ended. Relay R by the circuit of FIG.
FIG. 14 shows the settings of _{3 to} R ₁₂ and the tester resources V _{1 to} V ₅ . In FIG. 14, (a)
Shows the setting condition of the relay, and (b) shows the setting condition of the tester resource.

In the above embodiment, the case of application to the characteristic measurement of the IC has been described, but the present invention is not limited to this, and the present invention is applied to the characteristic measurement of general multi-terminal devices other than the IC. I will get it.

[0025]

As described above, according to the present invention,
Automatically create a netlist in which the measured point and tester resources are directly connected or connected via a relay from the settings of the device board circuit and its measured point for each test, and the number of each resource possessed by each tester. At the same time, the settings for each measurement of the used tester resource and relay are automatically created and stored in the file.
Since the circuit design of the device board can be automated by a computer, the expert knowledge of the tester is not required, the number of circuit design man-hours can be greatly reduced, and the completed circuit is created according to certain rules, so maintenance is easy and the tester You will be able to create a circuit that reasonably uses the resources and relays.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a flowchart (part 1) showing an algorithm in a connection method according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart (part 2) showing an algorithm in the connection method according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart (part 3) showing an algorithm in the connection method according to the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a system conceptual diagram of a device board circuit designing apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing setting conditions of a measured point.

FIG. 6 is a connection diagram when n = 5 and M = 6.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing setting conditions of a tester resource.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing setting conditions of measured points (L _{1 to} L ₆ ).

FIG. 9 is a connection diagram when n = 6 and N = 4.

10 is a diagram showing each setting condition of a relay (a) and a voltage resource (b) for the circuit of FIG.

FIG. 11 is a connection diagram when the voltage resource V ₃ and the measured point L ₄ are directly connected.

12 is a diagram showing each setting condition of a relay (a) and a resource (b) for the circuit of FIG.

FIG. 13 is a connection diagram when M = 5.

14 is a diagram showing each setting condition of a relay (a) and a tester resource (b) by the circuit of FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Input Unit 2 Input / Output Device 3 Storage Device 7 Circuit Synthesis Unit 10 Display

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A tester for measuring characteristics of a multi-terminal device,
A wiring method for connecting a device board interposed between the multi-terminal device and the tester, wherein the number n of measured points of the device board and the number M of resources of the tester are read from a database and measured. A connection method characterized by comparing the number n of points and the number M of resources, and connecting the tester and the device board according to the comparison result. 2. When the comparison result is n ≦ M, a netlist in which one resource is directly connected to each measured point is created, and the set value of each measured point for each measurement item is unchanged. The connection method according to claim 1, wherein the setting value of the resource is used. 3. When the comparison result is n> M, a minimum number N of resources required to satisfy all the measurements is obtained, and a setting value to be shared by the N resources is obtained. When each resource and the measured point are connected using a relay so as to satisfy the measurement condition, and the setting condition for each measurement item of each resource and relay is obtained, and when N> M, the last (N The connection method according to claim 1, wherein identification information is added to (-M + 1) resources. 4. The number of measured points to which each resource is connected is read, and when only one resource is connected to the measured point, the resource and the measured point are directly connected and the measured points are connected. 4. The wiring method according to claim 3, wherein all the setting of the measurement points is left to the one resource. 5. The number of measured points to which each resource is connected is read, and when there are unused resources, the surplus resources are sequentially connected to the most added measured points of the relay, 4. The connection method according to claim 3, wherein all the setting of the measured point is left to the resource.