Patent ID: 8378701

Claim:
A non-contact voltage contrast (VC) method of determining TSV joint integrity after partial assembly, comprising: providing a through silicon via (TSV) die including a plurality of TSVs that extend from a frontside of said TSV die to TSV tips on a bottomside of said TSV die, wherein on said frontside of said TSV die at least a portion of said plurality of TSVs (contacting TSVs) are attached to pads on a top surface of a multilayer (ML) package substrate, said ML package substrate being on a substrate carrier that blocks electrical access to said frontside of said TSV die, wherein two or more nets comprising groups of said contacting TSVs are tied common within said ML substrate; directing a charged particle reference beam onto a selected TSV within a first net selected from said two or more nets; rastering a charged particle primary beam across an area that includes at least said contacting TSVs of said first net, wherein VC signals are emitted responsive to said rastering; detecting said VC signals, and determining joint integrity for said contacting TSVs to said pads of said ML package substrate using said VC signals.