Patent ID: 7730434

Claim:
A method for evaluating manufacturing of a product wafer, the method comprising the steps of: measuring an electrical activity from multiple activated circuits located at a plurality of locations on an active area of a die of the wafer, wherein the wafer is in a partially completed state; wherein measuring the electrical activity includes directly measuring the electrical activity using the off-wafer probe so as to associate the electrical activity as measured from each of the activated circuits with a corresponding one of the plurality of locations where that activated circuit is located; determining performance-related information of the die or wafer by relating one or more physical or electrical characteristics of at least the portion of the wafer to data corresponding to the measured electrical activity; wherein the step of measuring the electrical activity is performed without physically contacting the active area of the die of the wafer, and without affecting subsequent manufacturing of the wafer into final product form after measuring the electrical activity; and wherein determining performance-related information includes (i) determining values of a performance parameter from the measured electrical activity of activated circuits at the plurality of the locations, and (ii) determining variance from the determined values of the performance parameter.