Sep 29 2014
Today DCG Systems®, Inc. announced the first installation of the Meridian™ WS-DP (WaferScan Direct Probe) at NVIDIA, a leading manufacturer of graphics processors for advanced visual computing. The Meridian WS-DP was selected for its ability to provide full wafer diagnostic and testing under production conditions, dramatically accelerating development and ramp of 16/14nm and 10 nm technologies.
NVIDIA Installs First Meridian WS-DP for Full Wafer EFA Under Production Conditions
With time-to-yield being a key to profitability, advanced foundries, integrated device manufacturers and fabless companies can no longer afford the limitations of conventional electrical fault analysis tools, which are only able to isolate critical electrical defects at the dicing and packaging stages. The Meridian WS-DP removes this limitation by providing optical electrical fault isolation (EFA) on full wafers using production testers, load boards, and probe cards, greatly accelerating time to defect localization. In addition, no modifications to wafer sort test programs are required, ensuring precise defect localization accuracy as well as faster workflow set-up between fabless manufacturers and their foundries.
"The newly installed Meridian WS-DP uses a high bandwidth cable interface between the tester and the wafer probe card. Shmoo testing with and without the interface demonstrates excellent correlation after TDR recalibration," said Howard Marks, Director of the Silicon Failure Analysis Lab at NVIDIA. "This was a key requirement for us and helps ensure that we are targeting the same defect that was caught during production testing. In addition, the interface provides isolation of the high resolution optics in the WaferScan system from any vibrations that would otherwise come through from the tester. This allows us to achieve the ultimate resolution that the optics are capable of."
"Yields at the most advanced nodes remain highly challenging -- especially for finFET technology -- and electrical faults are the major reason why," said Dr. Israel Niv, Chief Executive Officer of DCG Systems. "By reducing the time to defect localization, the Meridian WS-DP helps ensure that advanced technology manufacturers meet their customer's critical need for reliable, on-time supply."
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The Meridian WS-DP is the latest addition to the Meridian line of electrical fault isolation systems, which have found wide adoption for technology development, design debug, yield ramp, yield enhancement, and customer return failure analysis. All diagnostic options from the Meridian product line are available for the Meridian WS-DP, including: LVx, emission, LADA, and OBIRCH. For more information, visit the DCG Systems, Inc. web page.
The Meridian WS-DP will be introduced on September 30, 2014 at DCG Technical Seminar in Hsinchu, Taiwan.
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