Fabrication and testing method for nonvolatile memory devices
A plurality of master chips are arranged in a row on the wafer, each master chip including a power supply circuit providing a power supply voltage, and a plurality of slave chips are arranged in a column to at least one side of a corresponding master chip among the plurality of master chips, each slave chip including a memory cell array functionally operative in response to the power supply voltage provided by the corresponding master chip during wafer level testing.
1. A semiconductor wafer, comprising:
a plurality of master chips arranged in a row on the wafer, each master chip including at least one master control circuit that provides at least one control signal; and
a plurality of slave chips arranged in a column to at least one side of a corresponding master chip among the plurality of master chips, each slave chip including a slave control circuit responsive to the at least one control signal provided by the corresponding master chip,
wherein the master control circuit is configured to provide the at least one control signal to control testing of the plurality of slave chips during wafer level testing.
2. The semiconductor wafer of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of slave chips includes a first plurality of slave chips arranged to one side of the corresponding master chip and a second plurality of slave chips arranged to another side of the corresponding master chip opposite the one side.
3. The semiconductor wafer of claim 1 , further comprising:
a wiring arrangement extending in a columnar direction and connecting the at least one master control circuit to respective slave control circuits of the plurality of slave chips.
4. The semiconductor wafer of claim 3 , wherein the wiring arrangement connects the at least one master control circuit through an uppermost conductive layer of the corresponding master chip, and connects respective slave control circuits of the plurality of slave chips through an uppermost conductive layer of each one of the plurality of slave chips.
5. The semiconductor wafer of claim 4 , wherein each one of the plurality of master chips comprises a first connection pad area including a plurality of first connection pads connected to the wiring arrangement, and each one of the plurality of slave chips comprises a second connection pad area including a second plurality of connection pads connected to the wiring arrangement.
6. The semiconductor wafer of claim 1 wherein the at least one master control circuit comprises a power supply circuit, and the at least one control signal comprises at least one power supply voltage.
7. A semiconductor wafer, comprising:
a plurality of master chips arranged in a row on the wafer, each master chip including a power supply circuit that provides a power supply voltage; and
a plurality of slave chips arranged in a column to at least one side of a corresponding master chip among the plurality of master chips, each slave chip including a memory cell array functionally operative in response to the power supply voltage provided by the corresponding master chip,
wherein the power supply circuit is configured to provide the power supply voltage to control testing of the plurality of slave chips during wafer level testing.
8. The semiconductor wafer of claim 7 , wherein the plurality of slave chips includes a first plurality of slave chips arranged to one side of the corresponding master chip and a second plurality of slave chips arranged to another side of the corresponding master chip opposite the one side.
9. The semiconductor wafer of claim 7 , wherein the master chip comprises a master control circuit that provides a control signal, and each slave chip further includes a slave control circuit responsive to the control signal provided by the corresponding master chip during wafer level testing.
10. The semiconductor wafer of claim 9 , further comprising:
a wiring arrangement extending in a columnar direction and connecting the master control circuit to respective slave control circuits of the plurality of slave chips.
11. The semiconductor wafer of claim 10 , wherein the wiring arrangement connects the master control circuit through an uppermost conductive layer of the corresponding master chip, and connects respective slave control circuits of the plurality of slave chips through an uppermost conductive layer of each one of the plurality of slave chips.
12. The semiconductor wafer of claim 11 , wherein the corresponding master chip comprises a first connection pad area including a plurality of first connection pads connected to the wiring arrangement, and each slave chip in the plurality of slave chips comprises a second connection pad area including a second plurality of connection pads connected to the wiring arrangement.
13. A method of fabricating semiconductor devices, comprising:
fabricating a plurality of master chips arranged in a row on a wafer, wherein each master chip includes a master control circuit that provides a control signal;
fabricating a plurality of slave chips arranged in a column to at least one side of a corresponding master chip among the plurality of master chips on the wafer, wherein each slave chip includes a slave control circuit responsive to the control signal provided by the corresponding master chip, wherein the fabricating the plurality of master chips and fabricating the plurality of slave chips is performed by a common set of fabrication processes; and
testing the plurality of slave chips on a wafer level by operating the corresponding master control circuit.
14. The method of claim 13 , wherein the plurality of slave chips are fabricated to include a first plurality of slave chips arranged to one side of the corresponding master chip and a second plurality of slave chips arranged to another side of the corresponding master chip opposite the one side.
15. The method of claim 13 , further comprising:
fabricating a wiring arrangement extending in a columnar direction and connecting the master control circuit to respective slave control circuits of the plurality of slave chips.
16. The method of claim 13 , wherein the master chip is a power chip and the master control circuit is a power supply circuit, wherein the power chip is used only during wafer level testing of the plurality of slave chips.
17. The method of claim 16 , wherein each one of the plurality of slave chips is a nonvolatile memory chip including a memory cell array of nonvolatile memory cells.
18. The method of claim 16 , further comprising:
identifying bad slave chips among the plurality of slave chips during the wafer level testing and discarding the bad slave chips before packaging.
19. The method of claim 18 , further comprising:
fabricating a wiring arrangement extending in a columnar direction and connecting the power supply circuit to respective driving circuits of the plurality of slave chips.