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| Number | Title | Issue Date |
| 7671620 | Testing system for solar cells A testing system for optical and electrical monitoring of a production quality and/or for determining optical and electrical properties of solar cells, comprising a first conveyor device for conveying the solar cells to a test region, a second conveyor device for mo... | 03/02/2010 |
| 7521954 | Method for determining a minority carrier diffusion length using surface photo voltage measurements A method of determining a diffusion length of a minority carrier in a material which includes applying a first excitation light having a first photon flux to a material, measuring a first surface photo voltage resulting from the application of the first excitation l... | 04/21/2009 |
| 7339393 | Gate drive circuit for an insulated gate power transistor The invention relates to a gate drive circuit for, and in combination with, an insulated gate power transistor. The drive circuit is connected to the gate terminal of the transistor for the purpose of supplying a gate drive signal and being combined with the power t... | 03/04/2008 |
| 7330345 | Valve control method for circuitry for power generation systems A fail-safe control system for controlling valves in power generation systems is presented. The AC-coupled, rectified signal supplied to one valve is disabled in the event that the other valve fails. This failure is sensed, for example, through the use of power sens... | 02/12/2008 |
| 7327154 | Multichip package test A test apparatus for testing a multi-chip package comprising a multiplicity of semiconductor chips, which includes a test driver having one drive channel and at least one input/output channel. A test board is mounted with the multi-chip package. Drive pins of the se... | 02/05/2008 |
| 7315178 | System and method for measuring negative bias thermal instability with a ring oscillator An integrated circuit, in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention, includes a first device under test (DUT) module coupled to a first ring oscillator module and a second DUT module coupled to a second ring oscillator module. The first DUT module is b... | 01/01/2008 |
| 7301619 | Evaluating a multi-layered structure for voids A method and apparatus measure properties of two layers of a damascene structure (e.g. a silicon wafer during fabrication), and use the two measurements to identify a location as having voids. The two measurements may be used in any manner, e.g. compared to one anot... | 11/27/2007 |
| 7296247 | Method and apparatus to improve pass transistor performance A control circuit generates a temperature-dependent gate voltage for turning on a transistor. For NMOS transistors, the gate voltage is increased in response to decreases in temperature to compensate for corresponding increases in the transistor's threshold voltage,... | 11/13/2007 |
| 7282937 | On-chip frequency degradation compensation Embodiments of the invention include a trio of reliability oscillators. In one embodiment, an on-chip frequency compensation circuit includes a selectively enabled reliability oscillator to generate a reference oscillating signal, a clocked reliability oscillator to... | 10/16/2007 |
| 7282941 | Method of measuring semiconductor wafers with an oxide enhanced probe A method of measuring at least one electrical property of a semiconductor wafer includes providing an elastically deformable and electrically conductive contact having an insulative oxide layer formed on an exterior surface thereof by a controlled oxidation process,... | 10/16/2007 |
| 7276922 | Closed-grid bus architecture for wafer interconnect structure An interconnect structure employs a closed-grid bus to link an integrated circuit tester channel to an array of input/output (I/O) pads on a semiconductor wafer so that the tester channel can concurrently communicate with all of the I/O pads. The interconnect struct... | 10/02/2007 |
| 7271608 | Prognostic cell for predicting failure of integrated circuits A prognostic cell is used to predict impending failure of a useful circuit or circuits in a host IC. Increasing the stress on the prognostic cell relative to the useful circuit shifts the failure distribution of the cell along the time axis. The relative amount of t... | 09/18/2007 |
| 7268575 | Method of NBTI prediction A method includes measuring a gate leakage current of at least one transistor. A single stress bias voltage is applied to the at least one transistor at a given temperature for a stress period t. The stress bias voltage causes a 10% degradation in a drive current of... | 09/11/2007 |
| 7265571 | Method and device for determining a characteristic of a semiconductor sample The invention relates to a method for determining a characteristic of a semiconductor sample forming a surface. The method comprises the steps: simultaneously illuminating an area on the surface of a semiconductor sample with superimposed exciting light beams with a... | 09/04/2007 |
| 7238543 | Methods for marking a bare semiconductor die including applying a tape having energy-markable properties A method used for marking a semiconductor wafer or device. The method and apparatus have particular application to wafers or devices which have been subjected to a thinning process, including backgrinding in particular. The present method comprises reducing the cros... | 07/03/2007 |
| 7230812 | Predictive applications for devices with thin dielectric regions It is possible to predict with acceptable accuracy the time to failure of a device having a thin gate dielectric in a field effect transistor. Such prediction is based on the realization that for such thin dielectric multiple dielectric breakdown occurs before devic... | 06/12/2007 |
| 7212022 | System and method for measuring time dependent dielectric breakdown with a ring oscillator An integrated circuit, in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention, includes a first device under test (DUT) module coupled to a first ring oscillator module and a second DUT module coupled to a second ring oscillator module. A dielectric layer of the... | 05/01/2007 |
| 7211923 | Rotational motion based, electrostatic power source and methods thereof A power system includes a member with two or more sections and at least one pair of electrodes. Each of the two or more sections has a stored static charge. Each of the pair of electrodes is spaced from and on substantially opposing sides of the member from the othe... | 05/01/2007 |
| 7196536 | Method and apparatus for non-contact electrical probe Methods and apparatus for non-contact electrical probes are described. In accordance with the invention, non-contact electrical probes use negative or positive corona discharge. Non-contact electrical probes are suited for testing of OLED flat panel displays. ... | 03/27/2007 |
| 7187186 | Methods and systems for determining one or more properties of a specimen Various methods and systems for determining one or more properties of a specimen are provided. One system for determining a property of a specimen is configured to illuminate a specimen with different wavelengths of light substantially simultaneously. The different ... | 03/06/2007 |
| 7180318 | Multi-pitch test probe assembly for testing semiconductor dies having contact pads Die probing devices can include multiple sets of probe wires, where certain probe wires correspond to test pads and other correspond to bond pads. The probe wires can be electrically coupled to each other using either a space transformer or a probe card, to provide ... | 02/20/2007 |
| 7155300 | Method for using data regarding manufacturing procedures integrated circuits (IC's) have undergone, such as repairs, to select procedures the IC's will undergo, such as additional repairs An inventive method in an integrated circuit (IC) manufacturing process for using data regarding repair procedures conducted on IC's at probe to determine whether any further repairs will be conducted later in the manufacturing process includes storing the data in a... | 12/26/2006 |
| 7141440 | Apparatus and method for measuring a property of a layer in a multilayered structure A property of a layer is measured by: (1) focusing a heating beam on a region (also called “heated region”) of a conductive layer (2) modulating the power of the heating beam at a predetermined frequency that is selected to be sufficiently low to ensure that at ... | 11/28/2006 |
| 7130055 | Use of coefficient of a power curve to evaluate a semiconductor wafer A coefficient of a function that relates a measurement from a wafer to a parameter used in making the measurement (such as the power of a beam used in the measurement) is determined. The coefficient is used to evaluate the wafer (e.g. to accept or reject the wafer f... | 10/31/2006 |
| 7126365 | System and method for measuring negative bias thermal instability with a ring oscillator An integrated circuit, in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention, includes a first device under test (DUT) module coupled to a first ring oscillator module and a second DUT module coupled to a second ring oscillator module. The first DUT module is b... | 10/24/2006 |
| 7122829 | Probe look ahead: testing parts not currently under a probehead A semiconductor substrate, probe card, and methods for stressing and testing dies on a semiconductor substrate are provided. The semiconductor substrate, typically a semiconductor wafer, comprises dies disposed thereon and a redistribution layer (RDL) for routing si... | 10/17/2006 |
| 7116110 | Sensorless protection for electronic device An electronic device with thermal fault protection wherein temperature sensors are not employed to detect an unbalanced thermal runaway condition. The device employs resistor networks to monitor a voltage differential that can be affected by transistor leakage curre... | 10/03/2006 |
| 7113264 | Apparatus and method for testing a material An apparatus for testing a material (2), having a measurement unit for measuring at least one electrical parameter of the material (2) to be tested, is proposed that ensures a measuring of all relevant parameters of the material (2) under identi... | 09/26/2006 |
| 7109734 | Characterizing circuit performance by separating device and interconnect impact on signal delay An integrated circuit (IC) includes multiple embedded test circuits that all include a ring oscillator coupled to a test load. The test load either is a direct short in the ring oscillator or else is a interconnect load that is representative of one of the interconn... | 09/19/2006 |
| 7106088 | Method of predicting high-k semiconductor device lifetime A preferred embodiment of the invention provides a method for testing a MISFET to determine the effect of hot carrier injection (HCI) on integrated circuit lifetime. The method comprises applying a positive stress voltage to a gate having a high-k dielectric, while ... | 09/12/2006 |
| 7106081 | Parallel calibration system for a test device A parallel calibration system for an electronic circuit tester comprises test and measurement electronics, a test fixture coupled to the test and measurement electronics, the test fixture comprising clock reference circuitry and clock distribution circuitry, a devic... | 09/12/2006 |
| 7106090 | Optical semiconductor device with multiple quantum well structure An optical semiconductor device with a multiple quantum well structure, in which well layers and barrier layers comprising various types of semiconductor layers are alternately layered, in which device well layers (6a) of a first composition based on a... | 09/12/2006 |
| 7102358 | Overvoltage detection apparatus, method, and system A transistor may have degraded characteristics because of an overvoltage condition. The degraded characteristics may be sensed to determine that the transistor has previously been subjected to an overvoltage condition. ... | 09/05/2006 |
| 7098676 | Multi-functional structure for enhanced chip manufacturibility and reliability for low k dielectrics semiconductors and a crackstop integrity screen and monitor An on-chip redundant crack termination barrier structure, or crackstop, provides a barrier for preventing defects, cracks, delaminations, and moisture/oxidation contaminants from reaching active circuit regions. Conductive materials in the barrier structure design p... | 08/29/2006 |
| 7094618 | Methods for marking a packaged semiconductor die including applying tape and subsequently marking the tape The present invention provides a method and apparatus for marking a semiconductor wafer or device. The method and apparatus have particular application to wafers or devices which have been subjected to a thinning process, including backgrinding in particular. The pr... | 08/22/2006 |
| 7088444 | Evaluating a multi-layered structure for voids A method and apparatus measure properties of two layers of a damascene structure (e.g. a silicon wafer during fabrication), and use the two measurements to identify a location as having voids. The two measurements may be used in any manner, e.g. compared to one anot... | 08/08/2006 |
| 7084661 | Scanning kelvin microprobe system and process for analyzing a surface A scanning Kelvin microprobe (SKM) system capable of measuring and analyzing surface characteristics of samples is provided. Also provided is a process of measuring and analyzing surface characteristics of samples. Further, there are provided uses of the SKM system ... | 08/01/2006 |
| 7078319 | Laser separated die with tapered sidewalls for improved light extraction A method for separating individual optoelectronic devices, such as LEDs, from a wafer includes directing a laser beam having a width toward a major surface of the semiconductor wafer. The laser beam has an image with a first portion of a first energy per unit width ... | 07/18/2006 |
| 7078711 | Matching dose and energy of multiple ion implanters A method that is sensitive to lattice damage (also called “primary method”) is combined with an additional method that independently measures one of two parameters to which the primary method is sensitive namely dose and energy. In some embodiments, the addition... | 07/18/2006 |
| 7079249 | Modulated reflectance measurement system with fiber laser technology A modulated reflectance measurement system includes two diode-based lasers for generating a probe beam and an intensity modulated pump beam. The pump and probe beams are joined into a collinear beam using a laser diode power combiner. One or more optical fibers are ... | 07/18/2006 |
