Patent Document

FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
   The present invention relates in general to semiconductor chip defect analysis. 
   BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
   Semiconductor chip manufacturing requires defect analysis to help improve chip yield and monitor the production environment. Semiconductor chips are tested for the presence of physical defects at various processing steps during the manufacturing process. “In-line” measurements occur while the semiconductor chips are within the fabrication facility. Example physical defects include pinholes, voids, spikes, or agglomerations. With the aid of defect data analysis, equipment failure or fabrication facility contamination may be inferred. 
   Electrical measurements may be taken and further analysis performed after completing manufacture of the semiconductor chip. The electrical measurements, which produce electrical test data, or “electrical data” for short, and analysis may help improve chip yield and provide information in support of monitoring the production environment. The electrical data and analysis also support monitoring of device and circuit-level functional characteristics. Poor device or circuit-level functional characteristics may be caused by physical defects. However, physical defects may be difficult to detect after manufacture of the chip is complete. 
   Correlation of physical defects with electrical data may be performed through failure analysis of a limited sample size of failing chips. However, failure analysis techniques may be time consuming, expensive, and destructive. Semiconductor manufacturers have short production-cycle times that do not permit the frequent use of failure analysis techniques. The present invention may address one or more of these and related issues. 
   SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
   The various embodiments of the invention may be used for analyzing defect data produced in testing a semiconductor chip from a logic design. In various embodiments, input for processing is a first (inspection) data set that identifies a first set of physical locations that are associated with defects detected during fabrication of the chip. Also input is a second test data set that includes one or more identifiers associated with failing circuitry in the chip. A second set of physical locations is determined from the one or more identifiers of failing circuitry, hierarchical relationships between blocks of the design, and placement information associated with the blocks. Each of the one or more identifiers is associated with at least one of the blocks. Correspondences are identified between physical locations in the first (inspection) data set and the second set of physical locations. 
   Various methods are disclosed for analyzing yield data produced in testing a semiconductor chip. The electrical data is translated into a physical location defect data format that may be overlaid with the physical defect data. Physical defect data may be compared with translated electrical data to improve yield analysis. 
   The above summary of the present invention is not intended to describe each illustrated embodiment or implementation of the present invention. This is the purpose of the figures and the associated discussion which follows. 

   
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       FIG. 1  is a flowchart of an example process for analyzing data generated in testing a semiconductor chip in accordance with various embodiments of the present invention; 
       FIG. 2  illustrates a semiconductor chip comprised of an array of memory cells; 
       FIG. 3  illustrates an example of a semiconductor chip comprised of circuit blocks of a programmable logic device; 
       FIG. 4  illustrates an example of an ASIC layout on a semiconductor chip; 
       FIG. 5A  illustrates an example layout of various blocks on a semiconductor chip; 
       FIG. 5B  illustrates an example of a hierarchy of blocks for block A of  FIG. 5A  down to the level of associated memory cells; 
       FIG. 5C  illustrates the hierarchy of blocks related to example block B of  FIG. 5A  down to the level of failing circuit paths; and 
       FIG. 6  is a flowchart of an example process for determining the physical position(s) of circuitry that failed an electrical test in accordance with various embodiments of the invention. 
   

   DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     FIG. 1  is a flowchart of an example process for analyzing data generated in testing a semiconductor chip in accordance with various embodiments of the invention. During manufacture of the chip, various inspections are performed in an attempt to find physical defects (step  100 ). This process may be referred to as “in-line” inspection. Various known techniques may be used to inspect the chip. For example, inspection techniques that use an electron/ion beam, lasers, or various other optical apparatus may be used for physical inspection. Data gathered during in-line inspection and associated with physical defects are stored for later analysis (step  102 ). 
   Electrical testing may be performed at some time after manufacture of the chip is complete and test data generated from the testing is stored for subsequent analysis (step  104 ). Data associated with a failure(s) detected during electrical testing are analyzed to determine the physical location(s) of failing circuit elements (step  106 ). In one embodiment, the physical location(s) of circuitry failing the electrical test is determined from a hierarchical description of the design. 
   The data indicating the physical location(s) of the electrical test failure(s) are then formatted for ease of cross-reference with the physical defect data (step  108 ). For example, for a given output of a numbered bus, data associated with a memory cell failure may be recorded in a format such as: cycle#, vector#, data(LSB to MSB). This data is converted into logic address data such as: block#, major-row#, minor-row#, column#. Block # is a number assigned to the logic block by the logic design, (not shown). A block has many major rows, each major row has multiple minor rows. A minor row # indicates one specific row, a major row # indicates a group of minor rows. The logic address data may then be translated into the x-y position on the die (based on CAD information) such that the collection of data for the given output is: lot#, wafer#, wafer-relative x-position of the die, wafer-relative y-position of the die, block#, major-row#, minor-row#, column#, die-relative x-position of the failure, die-relative y-position of the failure, and classification. The classification may indicate, for example, a single bit failure, failure of dual bits, failure of a data line, or failure of a word line, etc. 
   The physical defect data and the re-formatted electrical test data are then compared to detect failures that occur at the same die-relative x and y positions (step  110 ). It will be appreciated that different embodiments may allow different variances between physical defect coordinates and the electrical test defect coordinates in determining that the positions of the physical defect coordinates and the electrical test defect coordinates are the same. Any coinciding physical defect coordinates and electrical test defect coordinates are reported to the user (step  112 ). 
     FIGS. 2 ,  3 , and  4  illustrate different types of integrated circuits for which the various embodiments of the invention may be used.  FIG. 2  illustrates an example of the layout of cells of a memory chip;  FIG. 3  illustrates an example of the layout of blocks of a programmable logic device; and  FIG. 4  illustrates an example of the layout of an ASIC. The embodiments of the invention may be used to correlate physical defect data and electrical test data from less complex circuit layouts such as memory chips to more complex layouts such as ASICs. 
     FIG. 2  illustrates a semiconductor chip  200  comprised of an array of memory cells. The dimensions of each memory cell are uniform and are arranged in rows R 0 –R 9  and columns C 0 –C 9 . For example, cell  202  at R 2 , C 9  and cell  204  at R 5 , C 9  are the same size. The pattern of equal-sized memory cells permits a straightforward determination of the physical position of electrical defects and thereafter correlation with physical defects. 
   For circuit designs having an irregular layout of circuitry, determining the physical position of electrical defects may be problematic. For example, programmable logic devices (PLDs) such as field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) have different types of circuit blocks, with blocks of each type containing physically equivalent circuitry. However, determining the position of circuit elements within the blocks on the chip requires more than the straightforward calculation that may be performed for memory cells. Determining the physical position of the circuitry that fails an electrical test in an ASIC may be even more problematic.  FIGS. 3 and 4  illustrate examples of layouts of a programmable logic device and an ASIC, respectively. 
     FIG. 3  illustrates an example of a semiconductor chip  300  comprised of circuit blocks of a programmable logic device. Blocks of the same type have the same functionality. For example, the A blocks (such as block  302 ) may be input/output blocks, and the B blocks (such as block  304 ) may be configurable logic blocks. 
   Even with identical functionality, however, the position of a block on the chip may dictate the physical layout of the circuitry within that block. Thus, two blocks of the same type do not necessarily have the same physical layout. For example, the layout of the circuitry within A-type block  302  may be different from the layout of an A-type block on another side of the chip, such as block  306 . It will be further appreciated that blocks of different types will have different circuit layouts. These characteristics make difficult determining the physical position of circuitry that fails an electrical test. 
     FIG. 4  illustrates an example of an ASIC layout on a semiconductor chip. The ASIC  400  includes input/output sections  402  and  404  and functional sections  406 ,  408 ,  410 , and  412 . The functional sections have circuitry that implements different functional features of the ASIC. The layout of the circuitry is likely to vary between the I/O sections  402  and  404 , as well as between the functional circuit sections  406 ,  408 ,  410 , and  412 . 
   The different types of blocks and the irregular layout of an ASIC makes difficult determining the locations of electrical test failures. As compared to an array of memory cells, the layout of an ASIC has no pattern from which positions of circuit elements may be determined. 
   The various embodiments of the invention correlate failures identified in electrical testing with physical defects found from in-line inspection. The defect data may be correlated for circuits with layouts that form a repetitive pattern, as well as for layouts without a repetitive pattern.  FIGS. 5A ,  5 B, and  5 C illustrate how the design information from a CAD tool (not shown) may be used to determine the physical positions of circuitry failing electrical tests. 
     FIG. 5A  illustrates an example layout of various blocks on a semiconductor chip. The blocks represent the block-level components of a CAD-based design as placed at various positions on the chip  500 . For example, block A is placed in the lower-left corner of the chip and includes sub-blocks E, F, G, H and other blocks not shown; block B is placed to the right of block A and includes sub-blocks J, K, L, M and other blocks not shown. Even when the sizes of blocks A and B may be shown as being the same (not the case in  FIG. 5A ), each of blocks A and B may occupy different size areas, as may blocks E, F, G, H, and J, K, L, and M. It will be appreciated from the teachings below that the invention may be applied to blocks of any number of sizes and non-uniform placement. Other aspects of  FIG. 5A  are described in the following description of  FIGS. 5B and 5C . 
   The physical positions of elements in the design may be determined from the hierarchy of blocks in the design.  FIG. 5B  illustrates an example of a hierarchy  534  of blocks for block A of  FIG. 5A  down to the level of associated memory cells. The hierarchical relationship may be determined from a CAD database. Block A (box  536 ) is at level 1 and includes children blocks E ( 538 ), F ( 540 ), G ( 542 ), H ( 544 ) and other blocks not shown, and is positioned at chip-relative coordinates (0, 0). In one embodiment, the lower-left position on chip  500  is used as the origin for the chip-relative coordinates of the lower-left corner of a level-1 block. For example, the chip-relative x-y coordinates of block A are (0, 0) as shown in  FIG. 5A . 
   Each of the level-2 blocks that is a child of a level-1 block is placed within the level-1 block at a position that is designated with block-relative x-y coordinates. For example, block E is placed within block A at block-relative x-y coordinates (0, 0), block F is placed within block A at (80, 0), block G is placed within block A at (0, 70), and block H is placed within block A at (80, 70). 
   Each level-2 block (boxes  538 ,  540 ,  542 , and  544  in the hierarchy  534 ) has one or more children cells with which is associated information that indicates a cell&#39;s logic address and associated block-relative coordinates. It will be appreciated that the logic address includes an identifier assigned by the logic design to identify a memory cell, for example a cell name. Box  546  represents the collection of cells that are children of the level-2 block E, with an example cell placed within block E (block  522  of  FIG. 5A ) at block-relative x-y coordinates (0, 0). Similarly, block  524  ( FIG. 5A ) represents a cell that is a child (box  548 ) of level-2 block F, and block  526  represents a cell that is a child (box  550 ) of level-2 block G. 
   Depending on whether an individual cell is mixed with logic, the cell may or may not be defined in CAD data. However, the lowest level block that contains a memory cell may be determined, and therefrom the physical memory structure of which the cell is a part may be determined from the CAD data. Example CAD data includes names of blocks, positions of parent blocks of child blocks, logic address information, and circuit path names. It will be appreciated that logic address information and position information may be generated by place-and-route other tools after the design is synthesized. 
     FIG. 5C  illustrates the hierarchy  560  of blocks related to example block B of  FIG. 5A . Block B (box  562 ) is at level 1 and includes children blocks J ( 564 ), K ( 566 ), L ( 568 ), M ( 570 ) and may include blocks that are not shown. Block B is positioned at chip-level x-y coordinates (1000, 0).  FIG. 5A  further illustrates the placement of block B. 
   Block J is placed within block B at block-relative x-y coordinates (0, 0), block K is placed within block B at block-relative x-y coordinates (120, 0), block L is placed within block B at block-relative x-y coordinates (0, 80), and block M is placed within block A at block-relative x-y coordinates (120, 60). 
   Each level-2 block (boxes  564 ,  566 ,  568 , and  570  in the hierarchy) has one or more children circuit paths. The children circuit paths of the level-2 blocks  564 ,  566 , and  568  are represented as blocks  572 ,  574 , and  576 , respectively. Each child circuit path is identified by name and the CAD tool maintains associated block-relative coordinates of the circuit path. Box  572  represents the collection of circuit paths that are children of the level-2 block J, with one path placed within block J at block-relative x-y coordinates (20, 20). Block  582  in  FIG. 5A  illustrates the placed path. Similarly, block  584  ( FIG. 5A ) represents a path that is a child (box  574 ) of level-2 block K, and block  586  represents a path that is a child (box  576 ) of level-2 block L. 
     FIG. 6  is a flowchart of an example process for determining the physical position(s) of circuitry that failed an electrical test in accordance with various embodiments of the invention. The process follows one path for memory cell failures and another path for scan test failures. Each path generally determines the position of the failing cell based on the logic address or name of the failed circuit path and the position information of the cell and related cells in the hierarchy. 
   The input raw test data (step  600 ) may generally include the clock cycle number and the vector for which a failure was detected. This raw data may be analyzed to determine the particular memory cell or circuit path that failed, given that each vector is generally designed to test specific circuitry. 
   The type of failure may be determined from the type of test pattern used. That is, different test patterns may be used for logic scan tests versus memory cell tests. Generally, the scan test is performed first if the target circuit is also used in performing a memory test. If there is no shared circuit between a scan test and a memory test, the tests could be performed at the same time and different input/output paths used to determine which test failed. The test results are interpreted using the failing clock cycle number and vector number to determine failure of a memory cell versus failure of a scan test. 
   For a memory cell failure (decision step  602 ), the process initially determines the logic address (i.e., memory cell name) of the failed memory cell, and from the logic address the associated block name (step  604 ). The logic address, for example, the cell name, may be determined from the clock cycle number and test vector from the input test log. Because each test vector is designed to test one or more memory cells in particular at specific clock cycles, the logic address may be determined from test information. The logic address associated with the failed memory cell may be used to determine the block name of the failed memory cell from a table of block names and associated logic addresses maintained by modified CAD information (not shown). The original CAD information does not include a link for each failing cell to each level block. The modified CAD information is a look-up table, which is generated from the original CAD information by adding the link of relationship of each memory cell to the multi-level blocks. The look-up table links the logic address and relative physical location information of the multi-level blocks. There are multiple tables to cover each level, including a table for the lowest level in which memory cells reside. 
   The hierarchy (e.g.,  FIG. 5B ) is upwardly scanned from the block name of the failed memory cell to determine the top block, along with the relative position of the top block (step  606 ). For example, the chip-relative physical x-y coordinates of the top block A are determined to be (0, 0). 
   The process then determines the relative position of the memory block of the failed memory cell (step  608 ). For example, if the failed memory cell is cell  522  ( FIG. 5A ), then the memory block of the failed memory cell is block E, which in  FIG. 5B  is hierarchy block  538  that indicates that block E is at block-relative x-y coordinates (0, 0). The relative position of the failed cell may be determined from logic address of the failed memory cell and the hierarchy (step  612 ). For example, if block  522  of  FIG. 5A  is the failed memory cell, the logic address may be used to identify the cell under block  538  of  FIG. 5B , and the information of box  546  consulted to determine the block-relative x-y coordinates (0, 0) of the cell in the block. 
   Using the position of the top block, the relative position of the failed memory block, and the relative position of the failed memory cell, the physical position of the failed memory cell is calculated and stored (step  626 ). The physical position may be computed as the sum of these positions since the coordinates of the top block may be used as the base, the coordinates of the failed block used as offsets from the base coordinates, and the coordinates of the failed memory cell used as offsets from the coordinates of the failed block. For example, if the failed memory cell is block  522  of  FIG. 5A , the position is (0, 0). It will be appreciated that the position determined for block  582  would be (1020, 20). 
   For a scan test failure (decision step  614 ), the process determines the logic block name of the failed circuit (step  616 ) from the failing clock cycle # and vector #, as described above. For example, if the failing circuit name is that from box  576  ( FIG. 5C ), then the associated logic block is logic block L, which is represented by box  568  in  FIG. 5C . The top block in the hierarchy of the failed block is then determined along with the position of the top block (step  618 ). As shown in  FIG. 5C , the top logic block may be determined from the CAD tool block hierarchy information. For example, the top logic block of logic block L is logic block B, having chip-relative x-y coordinates (1000, 0) (see box  562  in  FIG. 5C ). 
   The process then determines the relative position of the failed logic block (step  620 ). Continuing the example above, the block-relative x-y coordinates of logic block L are (0, 80). The name of the failed circuit is then used to determine the block-relative x-y coordinates of the failed circuit within the logic block (step  624 ). For example, the failed circuit name may be that identified by box  576 , which has block-relative x-y coordinates in block L of (10, 30). 
   Using the chip-relative position of the top block, the block-relative position of the failed logic block, and the block-relative position of the failed circuit, the physical position of the failed circuit is calculated and stored (step  626 ). For example, the position of failed circuit  586  would be (x=1000+0+10, y=0+80+30), or (1010, 110). The saved physical position information may then be correlated with the physical defect data as described above in association with  FIG. 1 . 
   Those skilled in the art will appreciate that various alternative computing arrangements would be suitable for hosting the processes of the different embodiments of the present invention. In addition, the processes may be provided via a variety of computer-readable media or delivery channels such as magnetic or optical disks or tapes, electronic storage devices, or as application services over a network. 
   The present invention is believed to be applicable to a variety of systems for testing integrated circuits and has been found to be particularly applicable and beneficial in identifying correspondences between physical test failures and electrical test failures. Other aspects and embodiments of the present invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art from consideration of the specification and practice of the invention disclosed herein. It is intended that the specification and illustrated embodiments be considered as examples only, with a true scope and spirit of the invention being indicated by the following claims.

Technology Category: 3