Method and system for testing articles of manufacture
View Patent ↗A data processor automatically analyzes test data after a small subset of the lot of IC packages has been tested for determining whether a rescreen condition has occurred in real-time. When the rescreen condition has occurred, a warning is provided in real-time shortly after testing of the small subset. Thus, time is not wasted in testing the whole lot of articles with the rescreen condition, and a small number of failed articles is retested after the rescreen condition is corrected thus maximizing tester utilization.
1. A method of testing articles of manufacture, comprising:
A. analyzing distribution bin data resulting from testing of a small subset of a lot of the articles to determine whether a rescreen condition has occurred after testing of the small subset including a plurality of the articles
wherein each tested article is assigned to a respective one of a plurality of distribution bins after being tested to generate the distribution bin data; and
B. generating a warning about a rescreen condition when the rescreen condition has occurred.
2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the warning is generated in real-time shortly after testing of the small subset.
3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
generating advice for handling the rescreen condition.
4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
performing steps A and B after testing of each incremental small subset of the lot.
5. The method of claim 4 , wherein the incremental small subset is X% of the whole lot with X% being less than 2%.
6. The method of claim 1 , wherein step A includes:
determining whether at least one of a plurality of rescreen conditions has occurred.
7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
correcting for the rescreen condition; and
retesting failed articles after correcting for the rescreen condition.
8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the articles are IC packages, and wherein a pattern of the assignment of the distribution bins is analyzed for determining whether the rescreen condition has occurred.
9. The method of claim 1 , further including:
comparing the distribution bin data to acceptable yield data stored in a database for determining whether the rescreen condition has occurred.
10. The method of claim 9 , wherein the acceptable yield data is determined using linear regression of historical yield data.
11. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
storing results data in a database.
12. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
performing steps A and B for each of a plurality of test systems.
13. A system for testing articles of manufacture, comprising:
a tester for testing the articles;
a processor coupled to the tester; and
a data storage unit having sequences of instructions stored thereon, wherein execution of the sequences of instructions by the processor causes the processor to perform the steps of:
A. analyzing distribution bin data resulting from testing of a small subset of a lot of the articles to determine whether a rescreen condition has occurred after the tester tests the small subset including a plurality of the articles;
wherein each tested article is assigned to a respective one of a plurality of distribution bins after being tested to generate the distribution bin data; and
B. providing a warning about a rescreen condition when the rescreen condition has occurred.
14. The system of claim 13 , wherein the processor provides the warning in real-time shortly after testing of the small subset.
15. The system of claim 13 , wherein the processor provides information advice for handling the rescreen condition.
16. The system of claim 13 , wherein the processor performs steps A and B after the tester tests each incremental small subset of the lot.
17. The system of claim 16 , wherein the incremental small subset is X% of the whole lot with X% being less than 2%.
18. The system of claim 13 , wherein the processor determines whether at least one of a plurality of rescreen conditions has occurred.
19. The system of claim 13 , wherein the tester retests failed articles after the rescreen condition is corrected.
20. The system of claim 13 , wherein the articles are IC packages, and wherein the processor analyzes a pattern of the assignment of the distribution bins for determining whether the rescreen condition has occurred.
21. The system of claim 13 , further comprising:
a database for storing acceptable yield data compared to the distribution bin data for determining whether the rescreen condition has occurred.
22. The system of claim 21 , wherein the acceptable yield data is determined using linear regression of historical yield data.
23. The system of claim 13 , further comprising:
a database for storing results data from the processor.
24. The system of claim 13 , wherein the processor performs steps A and B for each of a plurality of test systems.
25. A computer readable medium having stored thereon sequences of instructions for performing the steps of:
A. analyzing by a processor distribution bin data resulting from testing of a small subset of a lot of the articles to determine whether a rescreen condition has occurred after testing of the small subset including a plurality of the articles of;
wherein each tested article is assigned to a respective one of a plurality of distribution bins after being tested to generate the distribution bin data; and
B. providing by the processor a warning about a rescreen condition when the rescreen condition has occurred.
26. The computer readable medium of claim 25 , wherein the sequences of instructions are also for performing the step of:
providing by the processor the warning in real-time shortly after testing of the small subset.
27. The computer readable medium of claim 25 , wherein the sequences of instructions are also for performing the step of:
providing by the processor advice for handling the rescreen condition.
28. The computer readable medium of claim 25 , wherein the sequences of instructions are also for performing by the processor steps A and B after testing of each incremental small subset of the lot.
29. The computer readable medium of claim 28 , wherein the incremental small subset is X% of the whole lot with X% being less than 2%.
30. The computer readable medium of claim 25 , wherein the sequences of instructions are also for performing the step of:
determining by the processor whether at least one of a plurality of rescreen conditions has occurred.
31. The computer readable medium of claim 25 , wherein the articles are IC packages, and wherein the sequences of instructions are also for performing the step of:
determining by the processor whether the rescreen condition has occurred from analysis of a pattern of the assignment of the distribution bins.
32. The computer readable medium of claim 25 , wherein the sequences of instructions are also for performing the step of:
comparing the distribution bin data to acceptable yield data from a database for determining whether the rescreen condition has occurred.
33. The computer readable medium of claim 25 , wherein the sequences of instructions are also for performing the step of:
storing results data in a database.
34. The computer readable medium of claim 25 , wherein the sequences of instructions are also for performing by the processor steps A and B for each of a plurality of test systems.