Semiconductor testing is one of the most critical steps in ensuring that the product meets all the required specifications and quality standards. Thus semiconductor testing has also become a major driving factor for defect-free products.
Every chip manufactured has to go through testing processes to ensure the data collected is in line with the expected range. This step ensures the product shipped is fault-free. It requires understanding the product’s internal architecture (by non-designers) before creating testing rules to validate every block within the design.
Compliance: Semiconductor product testing plays a vital role in ensuring the product manufactured meets the compliance targets as per the specification and thus requires testing for the worst to best technical scenarios.
Accuracy: Semiconductor manufacturing needs to be accurate, and any deviation can impact the production line. Semiconductor testing during the fabrication and post-fabrication stage can reveal whether the product functions accurately or not. It can also provide insights to correct the issues before the product is shipped out.
Semiconductor testing is also heavily reliant on design techniques. The primary reason is the hooks (non-technical terminology) required to ensure the paths are available to correct test the device. It is where the design for the test strategy comes in to picture.
As the complexity inside a chip increases, the importance and impact of semiconductor testing will increase too. It also directly impacts semiconductor manufacturing as the goal is always to enable high yield, which is possible only if the testing can reveal the good and the bad parts. It also means thoroughly implementing a full proof and error-free testing process.
In semiconductor manufacturing, there are several stages where testing is needed to collect data.
The most critical stage is during the fabrication, and testing can reveal if the product is following the correct fabrication process. Any deviation can have a catastrophic effect on the rest of the manufacturing stage. Another critical stage where testing plays a crucial role is the validation stage. This stage can disclose underlying architecture that is not working as expected.
Quality: Customers are always looking for a product that meets all the quality standards and requirements. Semiconductor testing plays a vital role in ensuring high-quality products. It does so by disclosing any known and unknown issues with the product.
Data: Only way to know whether a semiconductor product works as expected is by looking at the data, and it is possible only by enabling high volume semiconductor testing.
Today, one of the hurdles the semiconductor industry faces is the CapEx and resources required for semiconductor testing. An area where the majority of the semiconductor companies find it hard to balance the requirements with the CapEx, and something which will be the primary focus in the years to come. Mainly due to the next era of technology node and package technology.
Semiconductor testing and the data that comes with it will become more critical for semiconductor manufacturing during the angstrom era. Hence, it will be crucial for the semiconductor equipment and testing teams to innovate solutions that can ensure the complex and advanced products do not lead to escapes. All this while also balancing the time and cost of semiconductor testing.
