JPH0645419A - Semiconductor device - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Abstract] [Purpose] It is possible to detect in advance the displacement of the probe needle with respect to the bonding pad due to the fact that the semiconductor wafer is not completely positioned at the stage of probe inspection of the semiconductor wafer. In a semiconductor device in which a plurality of semiconductor chips 3 each having a bonding pad 4 are arranged in parallel on the main surface of a semiconductor wafer 1 and each semiconductor chip 3 has the same structure, the main surface of the semiconductor wafer 1 The semiconductor chip 3 for each of the semiconductor chips 3 in
On the other hand, at least two conduction detecting pads 11 electrically connected to each other along the juxtaposed direction of the semiconductor chips 3 and having a smaller area than the bonding pad 4 are provided at the same position. There is.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a semiconductor device, and more particularly, it is formed by arranging a plurality of semiconductor chips each having a bonding pad on a main surface of a semiconductor wafer, each semiconductor chip having the same structure. The present invention relates to a semiconductor device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In such a semiconductor device, each semiconductor chip is divided by scribe from the semiconductor wafer.

Before this scribing, the electrical characteristics of each semiconductor chip are inspected in the state of the semiconductor wafer.

In this characteristic inspection, after the semiconductor wafer is accurately positioned at a predetermined position, an inspection medium called a so-called prober is automatically positioned on each semiconductor chip in order, and each semiconductor chip is inspected. To be inspected.

That is, the prober is provided with a plurality of probe needles which are in mechanical contact with a plurality of bonding pads (input / output terminals) formed on the semiconductor chip surface. The input / output of signals is performed to inspect.

Regarding the semiconductor wafer probe test, Electronic Materials 1983, Supplement, pp. 195 to 19
See page 8 for details.

[0007]

However, in such a probe test, when there is a slight misalignment in the rotation direction of the semiconductor wafer intended to be positioned accurately, each bonding of the semiconductor chip to be inspected first. Accurately to the pad, in other words, even if the probe needle is positioned and in contact with the center of each bonding pad, at the stage of sequential inspection for each semiconductor chip,
A phenomenon occurs in which each probe needle is displaced relative to each bonding pad.

If this is left as it is, there remains a problem that each probe needle comes off from each bonding pad region in the subsequent sequential inspection stage of each semiconductor chip.

In this case, the bonding pad is usually
Each probe is exposed from the hole formed in the silicon oxide film which is the passivation film formed on the main surface of the semiconductor chip, and the peripheral portion of this bonding pad is covered with the silicon oxide film. This means that the silicon oxide film is destroyed when the needles come off the respective bonding pad regions.

When the silicon oxide film is destroyed in this way, it is inevitable that contaminants will infiltrate from the destroyed portion, and therefore the semiconductor chip that has caused the destruction of the silicon oxide film is treated as a defective product. Was there.

From this, it has been demanded to be able to detect the positional deviation of the semiconductor wafer at the stage of the sequential inspection of the semiconductor chips, before the silicon oxide film around the bonding pads is destroyed.

Therefore, the present invention has been made under such circumstances, and the object of the present invention is that the semiconductor wafer is not completely positioned at the stage of probe inspection of the semiconductor wafer. It is an object of the present invention to provide a semiconductor device capable of detecting the displacement of the probe needle with respect to the bonding pad in advance.

[0013]

In order to achieve such an object, the present invention is basically formed by arranging a plurality of semiconductor chips having bonding pads on a main surface of a semiconductor wafer in parallel. In a semiconductor device in which each semiconductor chip has the same configuration, each semiconductor chip is provided on the main surface of the semiconductor wafer at the same location with respect to the semiconductor chip along the direction in which the semiconductor chips are arranged side by side. Is provided with at least two conduction detecting pads electrically connected to each other and having a smaller area than the bonding pad.

[0014]

In the semiconductor device configured as described above, the prober instructing a plurality of probe needles moves in the direction in which the semiconductor chips are juxtaposed during probe inspection in the state of the semiconductor wafer. When positioned above, the probe needles are brought into contact with the corresponding bonding pads, so that the electrical characteristics of the respective semiconductor chips can be inspected.

Further, in the case of the present invention, at least two conduction detecting pads electrically connected to each other are provided at the same position for each semiconductor chip along the juxtaposed direction of the semiconductor chips. If a probe needle that comes into contact with each of these two continuity detection pads is newly provided in the prober, and if continuity is detected from this new probe needle, then at least the semiconductor chip being inspected at the present time is detected. Will be correctly positioned with respect to the prober.

However, in the step of sequentially inspecting the semiconductor chips, if the newly provided probe needle loses electrical continuity, the semiconductor wafer is inspected at the present time because it is not completely positioned. It can be determined that the existing semiconductor chip is not correctly positioned with respect to the prober.

In this case, according to the present invention, since the at least two conduction detecting pads have a smaller area than the bonding pad, the displacement of the probe needle with respect to each conduction detecting pad is different from that of the bonding pad. Since it occurs at a stage before the deviation of the probe, the deviation of the probe needle with respect to the bonding pad can be detected in advance.

[0018]

2A and 2B are explanatory views when the semiconductor device according to the present invention is applied to a probe inspection. FIG. 2A is a side view and FIG. 2B is a plan view.

In FIG. 1, there is a semiconductor wafer 1, which is placed on a semiconductor wafer support 2. This semiconductor wafer 1 has a circular shape, and has a notch 1A in which a part of its periphery is notched, and the semiconductor wafer 1 is accurately positioned and placed on the semiconductor wafer support base 2 with reference to the notch 1A. It is supposed to do.

On the main surface of the semiconductor wafer 1, semiconductor chips 3 having a rectangular shape are arranged and arranged in a matrix. These semiconductor chips 3 are formed in the same process and have the same structure. Further, each of these semiconductor chips 3 is provided with a bonding pad 4 serving as an input / output terminal on the periphery thereof (upper and lower sides in the figure).

A prober 5 is arranged above the semiconductor wafer 1 so as to face one of the semiconductor chips 3, and the prober 5 mechanically contacts each bonding pad 4 of the semiconductor chip 3. It is composed of a plurality of probe needles 6 and a probe needle support frame 7 that supports each probe needle 6.

In this embodiment, in particular, a continuity detecting probe 8 which is supported by the probe needle supporting frame 7 and is provided separately from the probe needle 6 is provided. The function of the conduction detecting probe 8 will be described in detail later.

Here, the bonding pad 4 of each semiconductor chip 3 will be described in detail with reference to FIG. The same figure (a)
3 is a plan view, in which a circuit component 3A is formed in the central portion of the semiconductor chip 3 excluding the periphery thereof, and its periphery (upper and lower sides in the figure) is electrically connected to the circuit component 3A. A plurality of bonding pads 4 are arranged side by side.

FIG. 2B is a sectional view taken along line bb in FIG. 1A, in which a silicon oxide film 3C serving as an insulating film is formed on the main surface of the semiconductor substrate 3B, and the silicon oxide film 3C is formed. A bonding pad 4 made of, for example, aluminum (Al) is formed on the surface. Then, a silicon oxide film 3D serving as a passivation film is formed, and a hole 9 for exposing the bonding pad 4 is provided so as to cover the periphery of the bonding pad 4 with the silicon oxide film 3D.

Incidentally, in the prior art, as shown in FIG. 4, at the stage where the probe needle 6 is dislocated from the region of the bonding pad 4 (displacement in the P direction in the figure), and disengaged,
The problem remains that the silicon oxide film 3D covering the periphery of the bonding sepad 4 is destroyed.

FIG. 1 is a structural diagram showing the structure of a so-called scribe area between the semiconductor chips 3 on the main surface of the semiconductor wafer 1.

In the scribe area 10, a conduction detecting pad 11 is formed for each semiconductor chip 3 and at the same position for each semiconductor chip. In the case of the present embodiment, three continuity detecting pads are provided and are arranged in parallel along the moving direction of the prober 5. When the pad widths of the conduction detection pad 11A, the conduction detection pad 11B, and the conduction detection pad 11C are WA, WB, and WC, the following formula ( The relationship is as shown in 1). W> WA = WC> WB (1) A sectional view taken along line bb of FIG. 1A is shown in FIG. In the figure, continuity detection pads 11A, 11B,
11C is formed in the same step as the bonding pad 4, and therefore has the same height as the bonding pad 4. Then, these conduction detecting pads 11
A, 11B, and 11C are electrically connected to each other by the wiring layer 12 provided in the lower layer with the silicon oxide film 3C interposed therebetween.

The conduction detecting pads 11A and 11 are formed on the silicon oxide film 3D as a passivation film.
The holes 9 are formed in a state in which the areas around B and 11C are sufficiently exposed.

In the semiconductor device thus constructed, when the semiconductor chip 3 of one is inspected, the probe needles 8A, 8B and 8C for detecting the continuity of the prober 5 are as shown in FIG.
When the contact detection pads 11A, 11B, and 11C are mechanically contacted and the contact position shifts, first,
It becomes impossible to establish continuity between the continuity detecting probe needles 8A and 8B. In this case, since the pad widths of the conduction detecting pads 11A and 11B are determined to be WA and WB, respectively, it is possible to estimate what the deviation is.

Further, if the inspection is continued in this state, the continuity between the continuity detecting probe needles 8A and 8C cannot be established. In this case, since the pad widths of the conduction detecting pads 11A and 11C are determined to be WA = WC, respectively, it is possible to estimate how much the deviation has progressed.

However, even in this case, since the pad width (WA = WC) between the conduction detecting pads 11A and 11C is smaller than the pad width W of the bonding pad 4, the probe from the region of the bonding pad 4 is detected. Since the needle 6 is not detached, it is possible to prevent damage to the silicon oxide film 3D as shown in FIG.

In the semiconductor device constructed as in the above-described embodiment, the prober 5 supporting the plurality of probe needles 6 is used when the probe inspection is performed on the semiconductor wafer 1.
When the semiconductor chips 3 are moved in the juxtaposed direction and positioned above the respective semiconductor chips 3, the probe needles 6 are brought into contact with the corresponding bonding pads 4, whereby the respective semiconductor chips 4 have the same structure. The electrical characteristics will be inspected.

In the case of the present embodiment, at least two conduction detecting elements electrically connected to each other at the same position on each semiconductor chip 3 along the juxtaposed direction of the semiconductor chips 3. Pads 11 (11A and 11C, or 11A and 11B) are provided, and the probe needles 8 that come into contact with these two conduction detection pads 11 are newly provided in the prober 5 to obtain the new probe needles. If conduction is detected from 8, it means that at least the semiconductor chip being inspected at the present time is accurately positioned with respect to the prober.

However, if the newly provided probe needle 8 loses electrical continuity during the step of sequentially inspecting the semiconductor chips 4, the semiconductor wafer 1 is not completely positioned at the present time. It can be determined that the semiconductor chip 4 under inspection is not accurately positioned with respect to the prober 5.

In this case, in this embodiment, since the at least two conduction detecting pads 11 are formed to have a smaller area than the bonding pads, the displacement of the probe needle 8 with respect to each conduction detecting pad 11 is bonded. Since it occurs at a stage before the displacement of the probe needle 6 with respect to the pad 4, the displacement of the probe needle 6 with respect to the bonding pad 4 can be detected in advance.

In the above-described embodiment, the conduction detecting pad 1 is used.
Although 1 is provided with three pieces, it is also possible to provide more than one piece, and it is needless to say that the same effect can be obtained even if only two pieces are provided.

In the above-described embodiment, the conduction of each of the plurality of conduction detecting pads 11 is determined by the wiring layer 12 provided in the lower layer.
The continuity detection pad 1
Of course, it may be provided as the same layer as 1.

In the above-described embodiment, the conduction detecting pad 1 is used.
1 is formed in a so-called scribe region outside the region of the semiconductor chip 3, but the present invention is not limited to this, and it goes without saying that it may be provided in the region of the semiconductor chip 3.

[0039]

As is apparent from the above description,
According to the semiconductor device of the present invention, it becomes possible to detect in advance the deviation of the probe needle with respect to the bonding pad due to the imperfect positioning of the semiconductor wafer at the stage of probe inspection of the semiconductor wafer.

[Brief description of drawings]

1A is a plan view showing an embodiment of a semiconductor device according to the present invention, and FIG. 1B is a sectional view taken along line bb of FIG.

2A is a side view showing an embodiment of a probe inspection apparatus to which the semiconductor device according to the present invention is applied, and FIG. 2B is a plan view.

3A is a plan view showing an embodiment of a semiconductor chip of a semiconductor device according to the present invention, and FIG. 3B is a sectional view taken along line bb of FIG.
It is sectional drawing in a line.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing a problem of a conventional semiconductor device.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram showing an effect of the semiconductor device according to the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 ... Semiconductor wafer, 3 ... Semiconductor chip, 4 ... Bonding pad, 11 ... Continuity detection pad.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A semiconductor device having a plurality of semiconductor chips provided with bonding pads arranged side by side on a main surface of a semiconductor wafer, each semiconductor chip having the same structure.
At least two conduction detections for each semiconductor chip, which are electrically connected to each other at the same location with respect to the semiconductor chip in the juxtaposed direction of the semiconductor chips and have an area smaller than the bonding pad. A semiconductor device, wherein a semiconductor pad is provided.