JPH1194899A - Method for parallel inspection of semiconductor device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To eliminate a measuring error due to mutual induction, by simultaneously inspecting a plurality of semiconductor devices for first inspection item, and not simultaneously inspecting all the devices for a second inspection item, thereby reducing in size an electric characteristic inspection apparatus. SOLUTION: In an electric characteristic inspection apparatus 3, n pieces of measuring units 1 are connected by 1:1 to n pieces of semiconductor devices 2 held by a test handler 6. The handler 6 handles according to a control signal of an inspection apparatus controller 5 to be inputted by a test handler 7, and parallel inspects m pieces of electric characteristic measuring items for the n pieces of the devices 2. In this case, the controller 5 designates to measure the individual units 1 for inspection items No.1 measurable in parallel, and sequentially designates to measure, for example, from No.1 of the units 1 for inspection items No.2, which is not simultaneously measurable in parallel, according to its measurement complete signal. When the measurement of No.n of the units 1 is completed, the controller 5 designates simultaneous measurements of inspection item No.3 measurable in parallel.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a parallel inspection method for electrical characteristics of a semiconductor device such as a light receiving / emitting device, a photo interrupter, and the like.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a parallel inspection method of semiconductor elements has been used to efficiently inspect electrical characteristics of many semiconductor elements. When implementing this parallel inspection method, as shown in FIG. 8, a plurality of identical measurement units (No.
A, a, a ... are a plurality of semiconductor elements (No. 1 to No. 1).
No. n) The plurality of semiconductor elements b, b, b, b.
The electrical characteristics of b, b... are inspected. In addition, the inspection device c
Includes a power supply unit d that supplies power to the plurality of identical measurement units a, a, a,..., And an inspection device controller e that controls the operation of the plurality of identical measurement units a, a, a,. Have. Further, the semiconductor elements b, b, b,... Are connected to the respective measurement units a, a, a,. In the test handler f, the inspection device controller e
Is input to the test handler controller g, the test handler f performs handling according to the control signal.

In the conventional inspection, as shown in a time chart of FIG. 9, the same inspection item (No. 1 to No. m) is simultaneously measured for each semiconductor element, and a plurality of inspection items are sequentially inspected. I was (For example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 62-0867)
(See No. 38)

[0004]

However, in the above-mentioned conventional parallel inspection method for semiconductor devices, when a forward current of 500 (mA) is applied to measure the forward voltage of the semiconductor devices, for example, 20 semiconductor devices are required. When trying to measure at the same time, the inspection device is 500 (mA) × 20 = 10
(A) The current must be supplied. Since the current power supply for supplying such a large current is large and heavy and expensive, it hinders downsizing and cost reduction of the inspection apparatus.

In the case where the electrical characteristics of adjacent semiconductor elements are measured at the same time, measurement errors may occur due to mutual induction, and accurate measurement may not be possible.

On the other hand, there is another conventional parallel inspection method for semiconductor devices (see FIGS. 10 and 11). In this inspection method, the electrical characteristic inspection apparatus i includes one measurement unit a and a plurality of relay units h, h,
h ..., and by switching the relay units h, h, h ..., a plurality of semiconductor elements (No. 1 to No. n) b, b, b ... are sequentially connected to one measurement unit a. , The electrical characteristics of the plurality of semiconductor elements b, b, b... Are measured and inspected.

However, in the inspection method using the electrical characteristic inspection apparatus shown in FIGS. 10 and 11, it is necessary not to measure a plurality of semiconductor elements at the same time but to measure all the inspection items sequentially. In this inspection method, processing time is significantly long. That is, a plurality of the same measurement units (No. 1 to No. 1) shown in FIGS.
n) The inspection time is T when using an electrical characteristic inspection apparatus c in which a, a, a... are connected to a plurality of semiconductor elements b, b, b. In the inspection method, the inspection time of each semiconductor element takes T, and the inspection time of the entire semiconductor element (assuming n) takes n times (T × n) as described above. Unavoidable. Further, since the relay unit is frequently opened and closed, there is a possibility that a trouble may occur due to the deterioration of the relay unit.

[0008] The present invention reduces the size of the electrical characteristic inspection apparatus.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a parallel inspection method for semiconductor devices that is inexpensive, has no risk of measurement error due to mutual induction, has a high processing capability, and does not cause trouble due to a relay unit.

[0009]

The present invention has the following configuration to achieve the above object. The invention of claim 1 is
When inspecting a plurality of semiconductor elements using an electrical characteristic inspection apparatus in which a plurality of identical measurement units are connected one-to-one to a plurality of semiconductor elements, the semiconductor elements are simultaneously inspected for a plurality of first inspection items. The second inspection item is a parallel inspection method for semiconductor elements, wherein all the semiconductor elements are not inspected at the same time. According to a second aspect of the present invention, the second inspection item sequentially inspects a plurality of semiconductor elements.
2. A parallel inspection method for a semiconductor device according to (1).

According to a third aspect of the present invention, when a plurality of semiconductor elements are inspected by using an electrical characteristic inspection apparatus in which a plurality of identical measurement units are connected to a plurality of semiconductor elements in a one-to-one relationship, A parallel inspection method for semiconductor elements, wherein the order of inspection items for elements is different. According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, there is provided the semiconductor device parallel inspection method according to the third aspect, wherein the inspection order is constant for a plurality of third inspection items.

According to the present invention, a semiconductor element is inspected for a plurality of first inspection items at the same time, and a second inspection item, for example, an item to be inspected by applying a large current and an electrical characteristic of an adjacent semiconductor element are measured. Then, for an item in which mutual induction causes an erroneous measurement, all the plurality of semiconductor elements are not tested at the same time, so that the output current capacity of the current power supply can be reduced. Therefore, the electrical characteristic inspection device can be reduced in size and cost. According to the first aspect of the present invention, the first item other than the second item is simultaneously measured, so that the inspection time is minimized. According to the invention of claim 2, in addition to the operation and effect of the invention of claim 1, the second inspection item sequentially inspects a plurality of semiconductor elements, so that all the semiconductor elements are inspected without fail. And the control flow for testing a plurality of semiconductor elements can be easily simplified.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, the inspection order for each semiconductor element can be freely set, so that when the electrical characteristics of adjacent semiconductor elements are measured, the mutual induction may cause an erroneous measurement. It is possible to flexibly determine a test order in which such mutual induction does not occur. According to the invention of claim 4, in addition to the operation and effect of the invention of claim 3, since the inspection order is constant for a plurality of third inspection items, the steps of the third inspection item are collectively performed. And the control flow of a plurality of semiconductor element inspections is easily simplified.

[0013]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is an explanatory block diagram of a parallel inspection device according to the embodiment. As shown in FIG. 1, in the parallel inspection device, n identical measurement units (No. 1 to No. n) 1, 1, 1,.
o.1 to No. n) Inspection of the electrical characteristics of the n semiconductor elements 2, 2, 2,... using the electrical characteristic inspection device 3 connected one-to-one to 2, 2, 2,. I do. The inspection device 3 controls the operation of the power supply unit 4 that supplies power to the plurality of identical measurement units 1, 1, 1,... And the operation of the plurality of identical measurement units 1, 1, 1,. An inspection apparatus controller 5 also having a memory.

The semiconductor elements 2, 2, 2,... Are held in the test handler 6 while the measuring units 1, 1,.
.. Are connected. Then, in the test handler 6, when a control signal is input from the inspection device controller 5 to the test handler controller 7, the test handler 6 performs handling according to the control signal. In the embodiment, n semiconductor elements (No. 1)
To No. n) 2, 2, 2,... Are to be inspected in parallel for m electrical characteristic measurement items (No. 1 to No. m).

An inspection method according to the first embodiment will be described. FIG. 2 shows inspection program data of the inspection method according to the first embodiment, and FIG. 3 shows an inspection processing operation time chart. In the inspection program, the mode variable
Is a variable for setting whether the measurement order of the inspection items is the same or not. Variable mode = 0: The inspection item is not changed. Variable mode = 1: Changes the inspection item.

For m inspection items (1 to m), flags (FLG [1] to FLG [m]) and item names (ITM [1])
~ ITM [m]), upper limit (UL [1] ~ UL [m]) / lower limit (LL [1] ~ LL [m]) and measurement conditions (MC [1] ~ MC [m]) It is stored in the controller 5 of the inspection device 3. here,
The flags have the following meanings. If the value of the flag is "0", parallel simultaneous measurement is possible. If the value of the flag is "1", parallel simultaneous measurement is not possible. In the example of FIG. 2, only the inspection item No. 2 has the flag FLG [2] = 1.
And cannot be measured simultaneously in parallel.

The contents shown in the time chart of FIG. 3 will be described. In the test handler 6 shown in FIG. 1, n semiconductor elements 2, 2, 2,... Are fixed at predetermined positions, and electric power is supplied to the measurement units 1, 1, 1,. When the initial connection is completed, the test handler 6 sends a test start signal (TEST ST
ART) (transmit). Then, the controller 5 of the inspection apparatus 3 receives (receives) this signal and issues an instruction to each of the measurement units 1, 1, 1,... To measure the inspection item No. 1 for which parallel simultaneous measurement is possible. . When the measurement of the designated inspection item No. 1 is completed, the individual measurement units 1, 1, 1,.
Output the measurement completion signal of O.1.

When receiving the measurement completion signal, the controller 5 of the inspection apparatus 3 proceeds to the measurement instruction of the next inspection item. In the inspection item No. 2, the flag value is “1”, that is, the parallel simultaneous measurement is disabled, so that the controller 5 of the inspection device 3 first checks the inspection item No. 1 only in the measurement unit 1 No. 1. Give the measurement instruction of 2. Next, N of the measurement unit 1
When it is notified from o.1 that the measurement of the inspection item No. 2 is completed, the controller 5 of the inspection device 1
The measurement instruction of inspection item No. 2 is issued only to No. 2 In this way, the above processing operations are sequentially performed, and the N
Measure inspection item No. 2 until o.n. And when No. n of the measurement unit 1 finishes the measurement of the inspection item No. 2,
The controller 5 of the inspection device 3 proceeds to the measurement instruction of the inspection item No. 3.

Thereafter, the inspection items of all the semiconductor elements 2, 2, 2,... Are measured up to No. m in accordance with the inspection program of FIG. When all the measurements are completed, the controller 5 of the inspection apparatus 3 compares the m measurement values received from the n measurement units 1 with the upper and lower limits of the determination criteria of the inspection program in FIG. The determination result of the inspection of the individual semiconductor elements is stored in the memory.

The controller 5 of the inspection device 3 that has completed the determination
Are the individual semiconductor elements 2, 2, 2,.
Is passed, and an inspection end signal is issued. One cycle of inspection is completed as described above.

Next, an inspection method according to the second embodiment will be described. The second embodiment is an example in which the order of inspection items of each semiconductor element 2, 2, 2,. FIG. 4 shows inspection program data which is the basis of the inspection method according to the second embodiment, and FIG. 5 shows an inspection processing operation time chart. In the inspection program, set the value of the variable mode to 1
To change the order of inspection items.

In the second embodiment, first, the inspection program is read by the controller 5 of the inspection apparatus 3. This is directly used as the inspection program for No. 1 of the semiconductor element 2. In other words, the inspection sequence for No. 1 of the semiconductor element 2 includes the item No. 1, the item No. 2, and the item No.
3,... Are recorded in the memory as item No. m. Based on this, the inspection sequence for No. 2 of the semiconductor device 2 is shifted by one, and the item No. m, item No. 1, item No. 2, item No. 3,. Is recorded in the memory. Similarly, the inspection sequence is determined by shifting the semiconductor elements No. 3 and later one by one. The processing up to this point is processed as an initialization routine of the inspection device 3.

When the controller 5 of the inspection apparatus 3 receives the inspection start signal from the test handler 6, the controller 5 according to the predetermined inspection order of the individual semiconductor elements 2, 2, 2,. Are inspected in parallel.

Next, an inspection method according to the third embodiment will be described. The third embodiment is an example in which the order of inspection items of the semiconductor elements 2, 2, 2,... Is shifted. FIG. 6 shows inspection program data which is the basis of the inspection method according to the third embodiment, and FIG. 7 shows an inspection processing operation time chart.

In the inspection program, the value of the variable mode is set to 1 to change the order of inspection items. Inspection items for which the flag FLG is 1 are the flags FLG
Means that the order is not changed in the inspection items No. 1 and No. 2 in which “1” is 1. Inspection items No. 1 and No. 2 in which the flag FLG is 1 are shifted so that adjacent semiconductor elements are not measured simultaneously. An example in which the measurement order is not changed is, for example, a case where another item is measured in the next step after a semiconductor element is heated by flowing a current for a predetermined time.

In the third embodiment, the initialization routine of the inspection apparatus 3 is processed as in the second embodiment, and the inspection of the n semiconductor elements 2, 2, 2,... Is performed in parallel.

In the above description, the inspection items 1 and / or 2 are not inspected at the same time in the first to third embodiments. However, it is clear that the inspection of the present invention is not limited to this, and the inspections can be simultaneously performed as appropriate. Items not to be inspected can be set.

[0028]

As described above, according to the present invention, a plurality of semiconductor elements are inspected by using an electrical characteristic inspection apparatus in which a plurality of identical measurement units are connected one-to-one to a plurality of semiconductor elements. At this time, when a semiconductor element is inspected for a plurality of first inspection items at the same time and a second inspection item, for example, an item to be inspected by passing a large current or an electrical characteristic of an adjacent semiconductor element is measured, mutual induction is erroneous. As for the items causing the measurement, all the plurality of semiconductor elements are not inspected at the same time, so that the output current capacity of the current power supply can be reduced. Therefore, it is possible to reduce the size and cost of the inspection apparatus for electrical characteristics. Then, for each semiconductor element, the second
The first item other than the item can be measured simultaneously, and the inspection time is minimized because each item is measured without leaving time.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an explanatory block diagram of a parallel inspection device according to an embodiment.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram of inspection program data of the inspection method according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram of an inspection processing operation time chart according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram of inspection program data of an inspection method according to a second embodiment.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram of an inspection processing operation time chart according to the second embodiment.

FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram of inspection program data of an inspection method according to a third embodiment.

FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram of an inspection processing operation time chart according to the third embodiment.

FIG. 8 is an explanatory block diagram of a parallel inspection device.

FIG. 9 is an explanatory diagram of a conventional inspection processing operation time chart.

FIG. 10 is an explanatory block diagram of another parallel inspection device.

FIG. 11 is an explanatory diagram of another conventional inspection processing operation time chart.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1, 1, 1 ... Measurement unit 2, 2, 2 ... Semiconductor element 3 Inspection device 4 Power supply unit 5 Inspection device controller 6 Test handler 7 Test handler controller

Claims (4)

[Claims] When inspecting a plurality of semiconductor elements using an electrical characteristic inspection apparatus in which a plurality of identical measurement units are connected to a plurality of semiconductor elements on a one-to-one basis, a plurality of first inspection items are simultaneously measured. The semiconductor device is inspected, and all the semiconductor devices are not inspected at the same time for the second inspection item. 2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the second inspection item sequentially inspects a plurality of semiconductor elements. 3. When inspecting a plurality of semiconductor elements using an electrical characteristic inspection apparatus in which a plurality of identical measurement units are connected to a plurality of semiconductor elements on a one-to-one basis, an inspection item of each semiconductor element is checked. A parallel inspection method for semiconductor elements that the order is different. 4. A plurality of third inspection items,
4. The method according to claim 3, wherein the inspection order is constant.