Title :
Reductions in quality caused by uneven fault coverage of different areas of an integrated circuit
Author :
Maxwell, Peter C.
Author_Institution :
Design Technol. Center, Hewlett-Packard Co., Palo Alto, CA, USA
fDate :
5/1/1995 12:00:00 AM
Abstract :
This paper addresses problems associated with the production and interpretation of traditional fault coverage numbers. In particular, the issue of nonuniform distribution of detected faults is addressed, It is shown that when any degree of defect clustering occurs in the IC fabrication process, there is a very big difference in final quality between covering the chip evenly all over and leaving parts relatively untested, even if the coverage is the same in both cases. Empirical evidence is given to support the theory
Keywords :
fault diagnosis; integrated circuit technology; integrated circuit testing; integrated circuit yield; monolithic integrated circuits; probability; quality control; IC fabrication process; defect clustering; integrated circuit; nonuniform distribution; quality reduction; reject rate; uneven fault coverage; Circuit faults; Delay; Electrical fault detection; Etching; Fabrication; Fault detection; Integrated circuit modeling; Integrated circuit technology; Testing;
Journal_Title :
Computer-Aided Design of Integrated Circuits and Systems, IEEE Transactions on
