Patent ID: 7855572

Claim:
An operating frequency determining apparatus comprising: an elemental semiconductor diagnosis test pattern input part, to which an elemental semiconductor diagnosis test pattern for an elemental semiconductor integrated circuit is input; an elemental semiconductor test result input part, to which a result of an elemental semiconductor test performed on the elemental semiconductor integrated circuit device at an operating frequency by using the elemental semiconductor diagnosis test pattern is input; a semiconductor device test result input part, to which a result of a semiconductor device test performed on a semiconductor integrated circuit device obtained from packaging the elemental semiconductor integrated circuit at an operating frequency by using a semiconductor device diagnosis test pattern; an excessive discarding number/short discarding number calculating part configured to calculate an excessive discarding number of elemental semiconductor integrated circuits for which a negative result is obtained from the elemental semiconductor test but a positive result is obtained from the semiconductor device test, and calculate a short discarding number of elemental semiconductor integrated circuits for which a positive result is obtained from the elemental semiconductor test but a negative result is obtained from the semiconductor device test; a manufacturing total cost variation calculating part configured to calculate, by using the excessive discarding number and the short discarding number, a variation in manufacturing total costs of the semiconductor integrated circuit device, by using an excessive loss amount caused by unnecessarily discarding elemental semiconductor integrated circuits occurring as a result of a negative result being obtained in the elemental semiconductor test but a positive result being obtained from the semiconductor device test, and using a short loss amount caused by packaging elemental semiconductor integrated circuits for semiconductor integrated circuit devices that are discarded as a result of a positive result being obtained from the elemental semiconductor test but a negative result being obtained from the semiconductor device test; an operating frequency/manufacturing total cost variation input part, to which the variation in manufacturing total costs with respect to the operating frequency is input; and an operating frequency determining part configured to determine a new operating frequency to be used in the elemental semiconductor test or the semiconductor device test, by using the variation in manufacturing total costs with respect to the operating frequency input to the operating frequency/manufacturing total cost variation input part.