JPH1114696A - Tester for semiconductor integrated circuit - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a semiconductor integrated circuit tester capable of performing high-reliability measurement of the electric characteristic of a semiconductor device, and having a high operation rate. SOLUTION: An IC tester 50 having a plurality of boxes 10, 20, 30 and fans 13, 21, 31 for suppressing temperature increase inside these boxes 10, 20, 30 is provided with an abnormal temperature alarm system composed of temperature sensors 51, 52, 53 provided in the boxes 10, 20, 30, a signal processor 54 which has a specified temperature inputting means and outputs signals when the temperatures of the temperature sensors become a specified temperature or higher, and a red indicating light 55 which emits an alarm receiving a signal from the signal processor 54.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a semiconductor integrated circuit testing device, and more particularly, to a cooling device having a plurality of housings for accommodating a measurement circuit system and suppressing a rise in temperature in the housings. The present invention relates to a semiconductor integrated circuit test apparatus having the same.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, a semiconductor integrated circuit test apparatus (IC tester) is used to measure the performance of a highly integrated and high-speed semiconductor device and to judge the quality of a manufactured semiconductor device.
Is composed of a measurement circuit system that measures many measurement items at high speed, performs signal processing on the measurement information, and stores the signal-processed information in a storage device, and enormous processing is performed at high speed. For this reason, the IC tester has a large-scale system configuration, and requires a plurality of housing units for housing a power supply, a measurement circuit system, and the like. In addition, in order to perform an enormous amount of processing at a high speed, the IC tester includes a plurality of housings constituting the IC tester.
A rise in temperature due to heat generation becomes a problem, and a cooling device for cooling the inside of the housing is attached. IC testers include an IC tester that measures a semiconductor device after being mounted on a package and an IC tester that measures a semiconductor device in a semiconductor wafer state after a wafer process in the manufacture of a semiconductor device. In the latter case, Requires measurement of semiconductor devices in a clean environment (such as in a clean room).
There is a demand for a cooling device that uses a method of suppressing a rise in temperature in a clean room due to heat generated by an IC tester.

Here, an example of an IC tester used for measuring a semiconductor device after being mounted on a conventional package will be described with reference to FIG. As shown in FIG. 4, the IC tester 1 constructs a measuring circuit system for measuring static electric characteristics such as a current value when a predetermined voltage is applied to each terminal of the package of the semiconductor device, and a testing program for the IC tester. Unit 1 comprising a program keyboard 11 for performing the test program and a TV monitor 12 as a display unit, and a circuit system for generating a signal according to the testing program.
0, a housing unit 20 composed of a measurement circuit system for measuring the operation performance of the semiconductor device, etc., storage of the measured values, signal processing based on the measured values, and a result of the signal processing. Although a housing 30 and a drawing, which are configured by a circuit system and the like for performing information storage and the like, are omitted, a semiconductor device to be measured is automatically supplied to a measuring unit, and the semiconductor device and the housing unit described above are automatically measured by the measuring unit. IC that connects to a measurement circuit system and measures semiconductor devices
It is roughly composed of a measuring unit and the like.

[0004] Each of the housing units 10 and 2 when the IC tester 1 operates.
The electric power consumed in 0 and 30 is usually about several kW or more, and the temperature in the housing rises, causing an abnormal operation of the measurement circuit system or a failure of the circuit system. Therefore, a cooling device, for example, a fan 1 is provided in each of the housing portions 10, 20, and 30.
3, 21, and 31 are provided. This fan 13, 2
For example, about four are provided on the upper part of each of the housing parts 10, 20, 30 depending on the amount of heat generated in each of the housing parts 10, 20, 30.

[0005] Each of the housing parts 10, 20, 30 of the IC tester 1
As shown in FIG. 5, for example, the inside of the housing unit 20 has a structure in which a measurement circuit unit 22 and a power supply unit 23 are housed. When the IC tester is operated by one operation, the fan 21 rotates and air is introduced from the gas inlet 24 provided below the housing unit 20, passes through the power supply unit 23 and the measurement circuit unit 22, and passes through the upper side of the housing unit 20. A gas flow toward the fan 21 installed in the housing 20 is generated, and the power supply unit 23 and the measurement circuit unit 22 in the housing unit 20 are generated.
The temperature rise is suppressed by releasing the heat generated in step (1) to the outside of the housing section (20).

However, in the above-described IC tester 1, even if one of the four fans 13, 21, and 31 installed in each of the housings 10, 20, and 30 breaks down and stops. If the IC tester 1 continues to operate in a state in which the fan has failed, the temperature inside the housing increases, and an abnormal operation of the measurement circuit system occurs, so that the measured value itself becomes inaccurate, There is a possibility that a problem may occur that the system or the like fails and measurement becomes impossible. If the measured value itself becomes inaccurate, the reliability of the quality determination of the semiconductor device itself is lost and the quality of the semiconductor device cannot be ensured. Also,
If a measurement circuit failure occurs and measurement becomes impossible, IC
The tester 1 must be repaired, and the semiconductor device cannot be measured during this period, causing a problem that the operation rate of the IC tester 1 is reduced.

[0007]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to solve the problems in the above-described semiconductor integrated circuit test apparatus. That is, an object of the present invention is to provide a semiconductor integrated circuit test apparatus which has high reliability in measuring electrical characteristics of a semiconductor device and has a high operation rate.

[0008]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION A semiconductor integrated circuit test apparatus according to the present invention is proposed to solve the above-mentioned problems, and has a plurality of housings for accommodating a measurement circuit system.
In a semiconductor integrated circuit test device having cooling means for suppressing a rise in temperature in a housing, a temperature sensor installed in a plurality of housings and input means for a predetermined temperature are provided, and a temperature of the temperature sensor is equal to or higher than a predetermined temperature. An abnormal temperature alarm system comprising: a signal processing device for outputting a signal when the signal becomes abnormal; and alarm means for receiving a signal from the signal processing device and issuing an alarm.

According to the present invention, by providing the above-described abnormal temperature alarm system in the semiconductor integrated circuit test apparatus, measurement failure of the semiconductor device due to abnormal operation of the measurement circuit of the semiconductor integrated circuit test apparatus, Failure of various measurement circuit systems of the test apparatus can be prevented beforehand. Therefore, the reliability of the electrical characteristic measurement of the semiconductor integrated circuit test device is improved, and the semiconductor integrated circuit test device can be restarted only by repairing other than the various measurement circuit systems, for example, only by repairing the cooling means. The operation rate of the test equipment is improved.

[0010]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, specific embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. The same components as those in FIG. 4 referred to in the description of the related art are denoted by the same reference numerals.

The present embodiment is directed to a semiconductor integrated circuit test apparatus (IC tester) having a plurality of housings for accommodating a measurement circuit system and having cooling means for suppressing a rise in temperature in the housings. FIGS. 1 to 3 show examples to which the present invention is applied.
This will be described with reference to FIG. First, as shown in FIG. 1, the basic configuration of the IC tester 50 of this embodiment is substantially the same as that of the conventional example, and the description of the same parts as those of the conventional example is omitted. The temperature alarm system will be described in detail.

The abnormal temperature alarm system for the IC tester 50 according to the present embodiment comprises the housings 10 and 2 of the IC tester 50.
Temperature sensors 51, 52, 53, for example, thermistors mounted near the upper portions of 0, 30, a signal processing device 54, for example, installed on the housing 10, and an alarm, for example, installed on the housing 10. For example, a red indicator light 55 is provided.

The temperature in each of the casings 10, 20, and 30 is detected by each of the temperature sensors 51, 52, and 53, and signals from these temperature sensors 51, 52, and 53 are sent to a signal processing device 54. The signal processing device 54 compares the transmitted signals of the temperature sensors 51, 52, 53 with a reference predetermined temperature, and turns on the red indicator light 55 when the temperature in the housing becomes equal to or higher than the predetermined temperature. It has a function to emit a signal.

Next, the details of the signal processing device 54 will be described. The front of the signal processing device 54 is as shown in FIG. 2. The front panel portion 54a is provided with a predetermined temperature, that is, a so-called measurement failure of a semiconductor device and a failure of various measurement circuit systems of the IC tester 50. There is a set temperature input section 54b, a temperature display section 54c, and a temperature input switching section 54d for setting a temperature for prevention.

The circuit system of the signal processing device 54 is as shown in the block diagram of FIG. That is, the signals from the three temperature sensors 51, 52, and 53 enter the three temperature conversion circuits 60, and the output signals of the three temperature conversion circuits 60 are:
Each of the three comparison circuits 61 and the temperature input switching unit 5
Enter 4d. On the other hand, to the three comparison circuits 61, a signal for setting a predetermined temperature, which is input at the set temperature input unit 54 b, is converted into a temperature by the set temperature conversion circuit 62, and an output signal of the set temperature conversion circuit 62 is input. You. The three comparison circuits 61 compare the temperature signal from the temperature conversion circuit 60 with the temperature signal from the set temperature conversion circuit 62, and output an output signal when the former is larger than the latter. Three comparison circuits 61
The output signal from the inverter enters an OR circuit 63. When an output signal is output from the OR circuit 63, the output signal is input to a power supply circuit 64 for turning on the red indicator light 55, and power for turning on the red indicator light 55 is supplied from the power supply circuit 64.

The output signals from the three temperature conversion circuits 60 input to the temperature input switching unit 54d are switched by the temperature input switching unit 54d provided on the front panel unit 54a of the signal processing unit 54. This output is sent to the temperature display unit 54c to display the temperature in one of the housing units 10, 20, and 30.

Next, the operation of the abnormal temperature alarm system in the IC tester 50 will be described. First, a predetermined temperature, that is, a temperature for preventing a measurement failure of a semiconductor device or a failure of various measurement circuit systems of the IC tester 50 beforehand,
For example, 40 ° C., which is 15 ° C. higher than room temperature, is input to the set temperature input unit 54 b of the signal processing device 54. When measurement of the semiconductor device by the IC tester 50 is started, each of the housing units 10 and 2
The power supply unit and the measurement circuit unit in the units 0 and 30 generate heat.
Each of the housing parts 10, 20, 30 by the gas flow in
The power supply unit and the measurement circuit unit are cooled by the method of discharging to the outside, but if any one of the four fans 13, 21, and 31 fails for some reason and stops rotating, As a result, the cooling effect of the power supply unit and the measurement circuit unit decreases, and the temperature rises in the case where the fan has failed. When this temperature becomes a so-called abnormal temperature higher than the predetermined temperature of 40 ° C. inputted to the set temperature input section 54b, an output signal is output from the comparison circuit 61 in the signal processing device 54 and the OR circuit 6
A signal is sent from the power supply circuit 3 to the power supply circuit 64, and power for turning on the red indicator light 55 is supplied from the power supply circuit 64, and the red indicator light 55 is turned on.

In the operation after the red indicator light 55 is turned on, the measurement operation of the semiconductor device by the IC tester 50 is immediately stopped, and the temperatures of the housing units 10, 20, and 30 are changed by the temperature input switching unit 54d. After switching, the temperature is displayed on the temperature display section 54c, and the case where the abnormal temperature is reached is specified, and then the fan of the case is repaired.

In the above-described IC tester 50, the internal temperature of each of the casings 10, 20, and 30 is constantly detected by the temperature sensor, and the internal temperature of each of the casings 10, 20, and 30 is input to the set temperature input section 54b. By providing an abnormal temperature alarm system that turns on the red indicator light 55 when the temperature becomes equal to or higher than the predetermined temperature, measurement failure by the IC tester 50 and the IC tester 50
Of the various measurement circuit systems can be prevented from occurring. Therefore, the reliability of the electrical characteristic measurement of the IC tester 50 is improved, and the IC tester 50 can be restarted only by repairing other than various measurement circuit systems, for example, repairing the fan only.
The operation rate of the IC tester 50 is improved.

Although the present invention has been described with reference to the embodiment, the present invention is not limited to the embodiment. For example, in the embodiment of the present invention, the warning means is described as a red display light, but may be a display light of a color that draws other attention, or a warning means such as a blinking light or a warning bell. Also, in the embodiment of the present invention, the temperature sensor is described as a thermistor, but a temperature sensor such as a platinum resistor temperature sensor or an IC sensor may be used. In addition, the circuit configuration in the signal processing device of the above-described abnormality alarm system can be appropriately changed within the scope of the technical idea of the present invention.

[0021]

As is apparent from the above description, the semiconductor integrated circuit test apparatus of the present invention constantly detects the temperatures inside a plurality of housings with a temperature sensor, and when the temperature inside the housings becomes equal to or higher than a predetermined temperature. By providing the abnormal temperature alarm system for alarming with the alarm means, it is possible to prevent a measurement failure by the semiconductor integrated circuit test device and a failure of various measurement circuit systems of the semiconductor integrated circuit test device beforehand. Therefore, the reliability of the electrical characteristic measurement of the semiconductor integrated circuit test device is improved, and the semiconductor integrated circuit test device can be restarted by repairing only the cooling device, thereby improving the operation rate of the semiconductor integrated circuit test device.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic perspective view of an IC tester according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic front view of a signal processing device of the abnormal temperature alarm system in the IC tester.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating a circuit configuration of a signal processing device.

FIG. 4 is a schematic perspective view of a conventional IC tester.

FIG. 5 is a schematic sectional view of a housing for explaining a cooling method in a housing for accommodating a measurement circuit and the like in a conventional IC tester.

[Explanation of symbols]

1,50: IC tester, 10, 20, 30, ... housing, 1
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Keyboard, 12 ... TV monitor, 13, 21, 31
... Fan, 22 ... Measurement circuit unit, 23 ... Power supply unit, 24 ... Gas inlet port, 51, 52, 53 ... Temperature sensor, 54 ... Signal processing unit, 54a ... Surface panel unit, 54b ... Set temperature input unit, 54c ... Temperature display section, 54d: temperature input switching section, 55: red indicator light, 60: temperature conversion circuit, 61: comparison circuit, 62: set temperature conversion circuit, 63: OR circuit, 6
4: Power supply circuit

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A semiconductor integrated circuit test apparatus comprising: a plurality of housings for accommodating a measurement circuit system; and cooling means for suppressing a rise in temperature in the housings. A signal processing device that has an installed temperature sensor and a predetermined temperature input means and outputs a signal when the temperature of the temperature sensor is equal to or higher than the predetermined temperature; and an alarm that receives a signal from the signal processing device and issues an alarm. A semiconductor integrated circuit test apparatus having an abnormal temperature alarm system comprising: 2. The semiconductor integrated circuit test apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the temperature sensor is a thermistor. 3. The semiconductor integrated circuit test apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said alarm means is a red indicator light.