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Cleveland,
Ohio - 11, 2005 - Keithley Instruments, Inc. (NYSE:KEI),
a leader in solutions for emerging measurement needs,
announces the S510 Semiconductor Reliability Test
System, a high channel count, turnkey solution for
use in reliability testing and lifetime modeling of
the world’s most advanced ULSI CMOS processes at the
65nm node and beyond. It provides a high degree of
wafer-level reliability (WLR) test throughput and
flexibility, reducing the time to assess reliability
and to perform lifetime modeling, thereby ultimately
decreasing time-to-market for projects in technology
development and process qualification. The S510 System
can also be used for production WLR monitoring or
as a lab parametric test system.
A
fully automated, multi-channel parallel reliability
test system, Keithley’s S510 System features scalable
channel counts from 20 to 72 channels, an independent
stress/measure channel for each structure, and simultaneous
measurement across all channels. The S510 System can
test multiple devices simultaneously on a wafer in conjunction
with a semi-automatic or fully automatic probe station.
Meeting New Test Challenges.
As semiconductor device geometries shrink below 90nm,
new materials, structures, and processes are changing
device lifetime behavior. In particular, negative
bias temperature instability (NBTI) and time dependent
dielectric breakdown (TDDB) models have become a very
critical part of the technology development cycle.
New models for NBTI and TDDB must be quickly developed
early in the technology development cycle. To meet
faster development cycle times, NBTI and TDDB measurement
is moving to on-wafer testing and away from the conventional
package level testing that requires time consuming
chip packaging processes. The S510 Semiconductor Reliability
Test System accelerates the development of new lifetime
models by automating high channel count parallel on-wafer
reliability testing to quickly provide statistically
large data samples.
Keithley’s S510 System
does what no competitive solution can do. The S510
System meets the measurement challenges of high channel
count parallel NBTI and TDDB testing with SMU-per-device
architecture, while providing production grade automation
capabilities to maximize system throughput. Dedicating
an SMU to each device pin enables seamless transition
between stress and measurement cycles and highly controlled
device relaxation during NBTI testing. This arrangement
also allows the device to be closely monitored during
stress cycling, offering much greater visibility into
device degradation in both TDDB and NBTI. To fully
meet the need for large volumes of test data in the
technology development lab, the S510 System can be
paired with a fully automated production prober.
S510
System capabilities are built on Keithley’s proven
KTE automation test executive software. The interactive
component, KTEI, lets users do real-time graphing
and interactive test modules, in addition to lab-grade
automation for use with analytical probers or semiautomatic
probers. Keithley’s S510 System software includes
a parallel test module that performs tests for NBTI,
TDDB, and CHC and is optimized to address the significant
challenges of controlling up to 72 pins in parallel.
Faster Source-Measure
Sequences and Switching. The S510 Semiconductor Reliability
Test System also increases the quality of test data
by providing a unique SMU-per-DUT architecture that
is capable of high-precision measurements, TDDB soft
breakdown monitoring, and minimum NBTI stress relaxation
time, a common problem with many NBTI test setups.
Conventional WLR test systems have a limited number
of source-measure units or rely heavily on switching,
which leads to lower throughput or inadequate test
results. The S510 System uses a large number of parallel
stress/measure channels to enable the best possible
NBTI and TDDB testing.
Flexibility and Scalability.
In addition to WLR testing, Keithley’s S510 System
can be easily repurposed to perform device characterization,
saving the time and expense needed to buy and configure
a separate system. The S510 Semiconductor Reliability
Test System bridges the space between fully automated
parametric test systems for production, such as Keithley’s
S680 DC/RF Parametric Test System, and semi-automated
interactive bench top device characterization systems,
such as Keithley’s Model 4200-SCS Semiconductor Characterization
System. Customers gain the benefit of a powerful migration
path and investment protection as they move toward
and beyond the 90nm node.
Availability. Keithley’s
S510 Semiconductor Reliability Test System will be
available beginning June, 2005.
For More Information. For more information on Keithley's
S510 Semiconductor Reliability Test System or any
of its semiconductor test solutions and to view a
short online product presentation, visit www.keithley.com/pr/013.html.
Or contact the company at:
Telephone:
800-688-9951
440-248-0400
FAX: 440-248-6168
E-mail: product_info@keithley.comInternet: www.keithley.comAddress:
Keithley Instruments, Inc.
28775 Aurora Road
Cleveland, OH 44139-1891
About
Keithley. With more than 50 years of measurement expertise,
Keithley Instruments (www.keithley.com) has become
a world leader in advanced electrical test instruments
and systems from DC to RF (radio frequency) geared
to the specialized needs of electronics manufacturers
for high performance production testing, process monitoring,
product development, and research. By building upon
our strength in electrical measurement solutions for
research, Keithley has become a production test technology
leader for the semiconductor, wireless, optoelectronics,
and other precision electronics segments of the worldwide
electronics industry. The value we provide to our
customers is a combination of precision measurement
technology and a rich understanding of their applications
to improve the quality, throughput, and yield of their
products.
Products
and company names listed are trademarks or trade names
of their respective companies
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