Test machine, precision measurement unit, load board and signal amplification detection circuit

Abstract

The utility model provides a testing machine for semiconductor testing, a precision measurement unit, a load board and a signal amplification detection circuit, which are applied to the technical field of semiconductor testing, and are characterized in that an amplification module amplifies output current of a driving channel in a PMU (Power Management Unit); in the detection module, a voltage signal amplified by the amplification module in the driving channel is sampled through a sampling resistor, and a current signal amplified by the amplification module is output to the to-be-tested semiconductor device, so that the driving circuit output by the PMU is amplified based on the amplification detection module; according to the invention, the number of channels can be reduced due to the fact that channels need to be combined during testing, semiconductor testing efficiency can be improved, and the detection precision can be improved due to the fact that the detection module returns signals to the PMU sensing channel for detection.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present application relates to the field of semiconductor testing technology, and in particular to a test machine and a precision measurement unit, a load board, and a signal amplification detection circuit for semiconductor testing. Background Art

[0002] Currently, the communications industry and consumer electronics industry are developing rapidly, and the market has put forward higher requirements on product-related performance, which has greatly promoted the development of miniaturization and integration of semiconductor devices.

[0003] Existing ATE testers (automatic test equipment) used for semiconductor device testing have a fixed current output capacity. When the current output of the tester and the test substrate exceeds the capacity of the ATE tester, the test requirements can only be met by merging the channels of the ATE tester.

[0004] As semiconductor devices become increasingly powerful, they inevitably require more testing resources. Furthermore, rapid testing is essential during the mass production phase. However, factory test equipment often has very limited testing resources. For example, ATE typically has a fixed number of channels, a relatively small number, such as 64 test channels. Furthermore, each channel can only provide a limited current drive capability, such as a maximum of 1A. If 3A is required for IC testing, three ATE channels must be combined, further reducing the number of channels available for testing.

[0005] Therefore, when actually testing semiconductor devices, due to the limited number of ATE channels and the current capacity it can provide, when the semiconductor device under test requires high current drive to test, the channels can only be merged to carry out the test, which can easily lead to insufficient test resources, low test efficiency, and even failure to meet test needs. Utility Model Content

[0006] In view of this, the embodiments of this specification provide a test machine and a precision measurement unit, a load board, and a signal amplification detection circuit for semiconductor testing. By amplifying the current of the semiconductor test channel, it is possible to save test resources, reduce test costs, and solve the problem of insufficient test resources in IC mass production.

[0007] The embodiments of this specification provide the following technical solutions:

[0008] The embodiment of this specification provides a semiconductor precision measurement unit signal amplification detection circuit, including:

[0009] an amplification module for amplifying the output current of a target drive channel by a preset multiple based on the current required by the semiconductor device under test during testing and the current capability of the target drive channel of the precision measurement unit in the semiconductor automated test equipment, wherein the target drive channel is a drive channel used by the precision measurement unit to drive the semiconductor device under test;

[0010] The detection module includes a sampling resistor and a detection circuit, wherein the sampling resistor is used to sample the voltage signal of the target drive channel after being amplified by the amplification module; the detection circuit is used to output the current signal amplified by the amplification module to the semiconductor device to be tested, and use the sensing channel of the precision measurement unit to detect the voltage signal sampled by the sampling resistor.

[0011] Compared with the prior art, the at least one technical solution adopted in the embodiments of this specification can achieve the following beneficial effects:

[0012] Traditional ATE testers often have some obvious shortcomings, such as limited test board resources, limited output current capacity of the test board, and low test current accuracy of the test board, which makes it impossible to meet the latest semiconductor device testing requirements. In particular, for devices with high integration, complex features, and high-speed signals, insufficient test coverage may result in some defects not being detected. In addition, traditional ATE systems are often designed for specific products or series, which means that the test procedures and hardware may not have good versatility. When the product changes, the test solution may need to be redesigned. Therefore, through improvement and optimization, the present application makes the test circuit simple and practical, uses fewer components, and is relatively low in cost. It can process more channels and larger data volumes in parallel, significantly shorten test time, improve production efficiency, and adapt to the testing needs of rapidly developing semiconductor devices. In addition, it integrates more sophisticated measurement technologies, such as high-precision amplification, high-precision detection (such as high-resolution ADC / DAC) and other testing capabilities, which can more accurately detect and isolate complex and subtle deviations, improve test coverage, and reduce missed detection rates. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0013] In order to more clearly illustrate the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present application, the following briefly introduces the drawings required for use in the embodiments. Obviously, the drawings described below are only some embodiments of the present application. For ordinary technicians in this field, other drawings can be obtained based on these drawings without any creative work.

[0014] Figure 1 is a schematic diagram of the semiconductor test system structure in this application;

[0015] Figure 2 It is a schematic diagram of the structure of the semiconductor test system after amplification detection in this application;

[0016] Figure 3 It is a schematic diagram of the structure of the semiconductor test system after amplification detection in this application;

[0017] Figure 4 is a schematic diagram of the structure of the connection between the analog-to-digital converter and the microcontroller in this application;

[0018] Figure 5 It is a structural diagram of the connection between the PMU and the microcontroller in this application. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0019] The embodiments of the present application are described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0020] The following describes the embodiments of the present application through specific examples, and those skilled in the art can easily understand other advantages and effects of the present application from the contents disclosed in this specification. Obviously, the described embodiments are only a part of the embodiments of the present application, rather than all the embodiments. The present application can also be implemented or applied through other different specific embodiments, and the details in this specification can also be modified or changed in various ways based on different viewpoints and applications without departing from the spirit of the present application. It should be noted that, in the absence of conflict, the features in the following embodiments and embodiments can be combined with each other. Based on the embodiments in the present application, all other embodiments obtained by those of ordinary skill in the art without making creative work are within the scope of protection of this application.

[0021] It should be noted that various aspects of the embodiments within the scope of the appended claims are described below. It should be apparent that the aspects described herein can be embodied in a wide variety of forms, and any specific structure and / or function described herein is merely illustrative. Based on this application, it should be understood by those skilled in the art that an aspect described herein can be implemented independently of any other aspect, and two or more of these aspects can be combined in various ways. For example, any number and aspect described herein can be used to implement an apparatus and / or practice a method. In addition, other structures and / or functionalities other than one or more of the aspects described herein can be used to implement this apparatus and / or practice this method.

[0022] It should also be noted that the illustrations provided in the following embodiments are only schematic illustrations of the basic concept of the present application. The illustrations only show components related to the present application and are not drawn according to the number, shape and size of components in actual implementation. In actual implementation, the type, quantity and proportion of each component can be changed at will, and the component layout type may also be more complicated.

[0023] Additionally, in the following description, specific details are provided to provide a thorough understanding of the examples, however, one skilled in the art will appreciate that the examples can be practiced without these specific details.

[0024] refer to Figure 1 As shown in the figure, the ATE test machine (also known as test equipment, main control substrate, etc.) performs tests on the semiconductor device under test (DUT) through the load board (LOAD_BOARD) under the instruction of the computer, where the semiconductor device under test can be in the form of integrated circuits, devices, wafers, etc., which is not specifically limited in this application.

[0025] During testing, the current capability of the test channels provided by ATE is typically fixed and relatively low. For example, a channel's current capability is fixed at 1A, but the actual IC under test may require a higher current drive capability, such as 3A. The current practice is to combine three 1A channels to create a channel capable of providing 3A. Consequently, the number of channels available for testing in ATE plummets, and it may even be impossible to provide enough channels for simultaneous testing of the device under test. This impacts test efficiency and limits the industry's need to quickly complete testing and bring semiconductor products to market.

[0026] Therefore, there is an urgent need for a method that can solve the problem of limited test resources (test channels) in mass production of integrated circuits (ICs).

[0027] In light of this, in-depth research and improvement exploration of ATE equipment and test processes revealed that ATE testers are typically complete sets of equipment with relatively fixed component configurations. Each time a specific DUT is tested, a corresponding load board must be designed to align the ATE equipment with the DUT, enabling flexible channel merging and testing. Therefore, if the channel drive capability (current capability) of the ATE device could be amplified before using it for DUT testing, the likelihood of merging ATE test channels would be reduced, allowing each ATE channel to be used for IC testing as much as possible, improving channel utilization efficiency and resolving the dilemma of insufficient channel resources in IC testing.

[0028] It should be noted that in the yield test after IC packaging in the back-end of semiconductor manufacturing, a test load board is usually used to complete the mechanical and circuit interface interconnection between the test equipment and the device under test. In addition, corresponding load boards are usually designed for different ICs under test. Through this load board, the matching connection between the test equipment and the IC under test can be better achieved, which is beneficial to testing.

[0029] Based on this, the embodiment of this specification proposes a circuit processing solution: Figure 2As shown, an amplification detection unit is added between the DUT and the channels of the PMU. The amplification detection unit first amplifies the current of each channel (such as CH1-CHi) provided by the PMU system, and then provides the amplified current to the DUT IC load. The channels that originally needed to be combined for use can now be used individually after amplification, so more channels can be used for testing, solving the problem of insufficient channels in IC testing. Figure 2 In actual testing applications, the amplification detection unit can be designed according to the current capacity required by the DUT IC load. For example, the host computer (such as a computer) can be used to adjust the working parameters of the amplification detection unit, such as determining whether to use an amplification module (which can be controlled by a relay), setting the gain of the amplification module (which can be achieved by adjusting the gain resistor of the amplifier), and real-time detection and feedback of the amplification. After the amplification detection unit improves the driving current capacity of the channels, each channel can be used individually for DUT testing without the need for combination.

[0030] In actual testing applications, the amplification detection unit can be designed according to the current capacity required by the DUT IC load. For example, the host computer (such as a computer) can be used to adjust the working parameters of the amplification detection unit, such as determining whether to use an amplification module (which can be controlled by a relay), setting the gain of the amplification module (which can be achieved by adjusting the gain resistor of the amplifier), and real-time detection and feedback of the amplification. After the amplification detection unit improves the driving current capacity of the channels, each channel can be used individually for DUT testing without the need for combination.

[0031] It should be noted that the PMU is a core unit in the ATE device, which can be an existing PMU unit in the ATE device or a newly designed unit, which is not limited here. In addition, the host computer (computer) can be an existing PMU unit in the ATE device, which only needs to add related communication and control functions required by the amplification detection unit.

[0032] In addition, the amplification module and the detection module in the amplification detection unit can be designed in the same component, or can be designed in two separate components. The amplification module and / or the detection module can be arranged near the PMU (such as in the component where the PMU is arranged) or near the load board (such as in the component where the load board is arranged, or even on the load board).

[0033] The technical solutions provided by the embodiments of the present application will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0034] To solve the problem of limited channel current capacity of the precision measurement unit (PMU), the present application provides a semiconductor precision measurement unit signal amplification detection circuit.

[0035] Reference Figure 2 and Figure 3The signal amplification detection circuit can include an amplification module configured to amplify the output current of the target drive channel by a preset multiple according to the current required by the semiconductor device under test in the test and the current capability of the target drive channel of the precision measurement unit of the semiconductor automatic test equipment, the target drive channel being a drive channel of the precision measurement unit for driving the semiconductor device under test; and a detection module including a sampling resistor and a detection circuit, wherein the sampling resistor is configured to sample the voltage signal of the target drive channel amplified by the amplification module, and the detection circuit is configured to output the current signal amplified by the amplification module to the semiconductor device under test and detect the voltage signal sampled by the sampling resistor using the sensing channel of the precision measurement unit.

[0036] By using the amplification module to amplify the current capability of the channel, the current drive capability of the channel can be matched with the current requirement of the device under test. For example, when a semiconductor device under test requires 3A of current drive to carry out the test, the 1A current output by the PMU can be amplified to 3A based on the gain setting of the amplification module according to the requirement of the test, and then a plurality of channels no longer need to be combined to achieve the requirement of 3A of the test.

[0037] Therefore, in the test, only one channel is required to carry out the test, thereby releasing the channels that need to be combined originally, so that the PMU system can have more channels for semiconductor testing, improving the efficiency of semiconductor testing, especially being able to meet the needs of batch production of semiconductor testing, improving the semiconductor production capacity, and well meeting the market demand of testing and listing of semiconductor as soon as possible.

[0038] In some embodiments, the operational amplifier can form an amplifier or a follower (or a buffer) circuit according to the circuit connection relationship, so that the operational amplifier and the switch can be used to constitute an amplification or non-amplification circuit corresponding to a channel.

[0039] Reference Figure 2 and Figure 3In the figure, the amplification module includes a first operational amplifier OPA_1, a first switch relay_1 and a gain adjustment branch (for example, a branch for setting the operational amplifier gain using a resistor); wherein the first switch relay_1 is connected in series between the inverting input and output of the first operational amplifier OPA_1; the gain adjustment branch includes a resistance gain branch (for example, a resistance branch composed of two high-precision resistors) and a second switch relay_2, the second switch relay_2 and the resistance gain branch are connected in series between the inverting input and output of the first operational amplifier OPA_1, and the resistance gain branch is used to set The first operational amplifier OPA_1 has a non-inverting amplification gain, and the second switch relay_2 is used to connect the resistance gain branch to or disconnect the first operational amplifier OPA_1; wherein, the control signal of the first switch relay_1 and the control signal of the second switch relay_2 are opposite in phase. When the first switch relay_1 is turned on and the second switch relay_2 is turned off, the first operational amplifier OPA_1 operates in a buffer amplifier state, and when the first switch relay_1 is turned off and the second switch relay_2 is turned on, the first operational amplifier OPA_1 operates in a non-inverting amplifier state.

[0040] By forming different circuit forms through switches and operational amplifiers, the needs of semiconductor testing can be flexibly met. For example, when the current demand of the device under test can be driven by a single channel (i.e., channel merging is not required), the first switch can be turned on so that channel CH1 can be buffered by the first operational amplifier OPA_1. Under the buffering of the operational amplifier, channel CH1 can drive the device under test more stably. When the current demand of the device under test is greater than the current capacity that channel CH1 can provide (i.e., multiple channels need to be merged), the gain of the operational amplifier is used to amplify the current of CH1, so that channel merging is no longer required.

[0041] It should be noted that the above op amp circuit is for one channel, so other channels can also be connected in the same manner, and the gain branches of different channels can be set accordingly based on actual driving needs. In addition, the on / off control of the switch can be controlled by an external host computer, an external switch button, or an internal microcontroller, without specific limitations here.

[0042] In some embodiments, the switch may preferably be in the form of a relay or analog switch circuit, thereby utilizing the superior performance of the relay or analog switch to reduce the impact of the switch being turned on or off. Specifically, the first switch and / or the second switch are preferably relays, such as miniaturized solid-state relays, such as electromagnetic relays, etc. The specific form of the relay is not limited.

[0043] In some embodiments, the resistance gain branch can be preferably formed of a high-precision resistor, and the resistor can be an adjustable resistor, such as a manually adjustable resistor, such as a digitally controlled resistor, etc., and the specific form is not limited.

[0044] In practice, the resistive gain branch includes a first resistor and a second resistor, wherein the first resistor and / or the second resistor are adjustable resistors. It should be noted that the circuit connection relationship when the resistors constitute the in-phase amplification of the operational amplifier can be referred to in the prior art and will not be elaborated here.

[0045] In some embodiments, in view of the requirement that the device under test may require high current driving, the first operational amplifier used for amplification may preferably be a power operational amplifier with high operating voltage, high output current and / or wide output voltage swing.

[0046] For example, the op amp may preferably be an amplifier with a high operating voltage, such as an amplifier that operates on a 15V analog power supply.

[0047] For example, the op amp may preferably be an amplifier with high output current, such as an op amp with programmable current output capability, such as through external resistors and potentiometers, or through digitally controlling the resistor value through a voltage output or current output DAC, so that the op amp can accurately set and adjust the current in the range of 0A to 5A.

[0048] For example, the op amp may preferably be an amplifier with a wide output voltage swing, such as an op amp with a swing rate of 10V, which can meet most applications.

[0049] In one example, the op amp may preferably be OPA548T.

[0050] The OPA548 is a high-performance, high-voltage, high-current operational amplifier designed for driving various loads, particularly in applications requiring high output voltage and / or high current. This device has the following key features:

[0051] 1. Current and voltage amplification: The OPA548 is designed to amplify signals and provide high voltage and high current outputs. It is suitable for audio amplification, industrial drive, LED lighting and other fields.

[0052] 2. Flexible power supply mode: supports single or dual power supply, and in single power supply mode, its input common mode range can be extended to below ground level, improving design flexibility;

[0053] 3. Internal protection mechanism: With overheat protection function, when the chip temperature is too high or the output current exceeds the safety limit, it can automatically limit the current output to prevent damage;

[0054] 4. Programmable Current Limit: The current limit can be precisely set and adjusted from 0A to 5A using an external resistor and potentiometer, or digitally controlled via a voltage or current output DAC to suit different application requirements.

[0055] 5. Indirect load detection: Unlike the traditional method of limiting current through series resistance, the OPA548 uses indirect load detection to achieve current limiting, which helps improve efficiency and accuracy.

[0056] In some implementations, for some specific current requirements, an operational amplifier may be used to form an addition or subtraction circuit to achieve corresponding amplification.

[0057] refer to Figure 2 and Figure 3 As shown, the inverting input of the first op amp OPA_1 is also connected to the second drive channel CH2, and the first op amp forms a subtractor circuit, subtracting CH1 and CH2 to amplify the corresponding value. It should be noted that although CH1 and CH2 are used together to form a new current capacity, that is, an additional channel is used, when combined with the gain setting of the op amp, various specific values ​​can be flexibly combined to meet various testing needs.

[0058] In some embodiments, in the above example, the driving condition can be detected accordingly using the sensing channel (Sense) of the PMU. The following example further improves the detection accuracy and achieves high-precision detection by introducing a new detection circuit form, thereby meeting the needs of various precision occasions.

[0059] refer to Figure 2 and Figure 3 As shown in FIG. 1 , the detection circuit includes a second operational amplifier OPA_2, an analog-to-digital converter ADC and a microcontroller (or a microprocessor, which is not distinguished in this application), wherein the second operational amplifier OPA_2 amplifies the voltage signal sampled by the sampling resistor, and the amplified voltage signal is respectively input into the sensing channel (Sense) and the analog-to-digital converter ADC of the precision measurement unit, wherein the voltage signal can be detected in the PMU through the sensing channel (Sense), and after the voltage signal enters the analog-to-digital converter, it can be digitized by the analog-to-digital converter to form a corresponding digital signal, so that the digitized signal can be transmitted to the host computer (such as a computer) by the microcontroller, so that the host computer can compare the first detection result obtained according to the sensing channel detection of the precision measurement unit with the digital signal transmitted by the microcontroller, and then adjust the channel output of the PMU according to the comparison result to complete high-precision adjustment and testing.

[0060] It should be noted that those skilled in the art should understand that the host computer can be the computer used in the original test system. In the implementation of this application, it is only necessary to add corresponding data comparison and related functions for adjusting the PMU using the comparison results to the computer.

[0061] In one example, the MCU sends data to a host computer (computer) via the USB-UART protocol, and the computer can also send control data to the MCU via the USB-UART protocol.

[0062] In some implementations, the analog-to-digital converter may preferably be a single-channel or multi-channel ADC, and may be combined with a multiplexer (or analog switch) to form a new processing circuit.

[0063] In the implementation, the semiconductor precision measurement unit signal amplification detection circuit further includes a first multiplexer (eg Figure 3 The analog switch _3 shown in the figure, wherein the first multiplexer can be set before the ADC, and the multiplexer is used to selectively connect multiple signals to the analog-to-digital converter. For example, the signals output by multiple second op amps are input into the ADC after passing through the multiplexer, which facilitates the ADC to convert different input signals and increases the flexibility of the circuit.

[0064] In one example, after selecting a multi-channel analog-to-digital converter (ADC), the signals amplified by multiple op amps can be input into corresponding channels of the ADC. This facilitates the simultaneous digitization of multiple signals using a single multi-channel ADC, enabling simultaneous processing of multiple simultaneously tested signals and improving test efficiency. In implementation, the signal can be input into the ADC after passing through an analog switch, without further limitation.

[0065] It should be noted that the control of the multiplexer (or analog switch) can be completed with the microcontroller through a general purpose interface (GPIO), which will not be further explained.

[0066] In some embodiments, the analog-to-digital converter is preferably an ADC with a digital communication interface, such as an ADC including SPI, I 2 C and other interfaces to facilitate communication between microcontrollers and analog-to-digital converters based on SPI, I 2 C bus for communication connection.

[0067] refer to Figure 4 Schematic diagram of the SPI interface communication connection between the microcontroller (MCU) and the ADC. The SPI communication process can refer to the existing technology or the following diagram:

[0068] (1) MCU enables ADC by changing the SPI_CS signal from high level to low level;

[0069] (2) MCU's SPI_SCK will always send a square wave signal with a fixed period to the ADC;

[0070] (3) MCU transmits data to ADC via SPI_MISO signal;

[0071] (4)ADC transmits data to MCU via SPI_MOSI.

[0072] It should be noted that those skilled in the art should understand that SPI, I 2 The C bus is a mature bus form. In implementation, reference can be made to the existing technology and no specific limitation is made here.

[0073] In one example, the analog-to-digital converter is preferably a single-channel analog-to-digital converter ADC, and a multiplexer is used before the input of the analog-to-digital converter, that is, the multiplexer inputs the signals amplified by multiple amplifier circuits into the ADC in turn for conversion, and flexibly adapts to the analog-to-digital conversion processing of different test signals, which not only ensures test efficiency, but also reduces circuit area and circuit cost.

[0074] In one example, the ADC is preferably the AD7175, which is a high-performance analog-to-digital converter (ADC). Specifically, it is a low-noise, high-resolution Σ-Δ analog-to-digital converter with the following key features:

[0075] 1. High-precision measurement: Providing up to 24-bit resolution, it is very suitable for applications requiring high-precision data measurement, such as the acquisition of precision sensor signals such as temperature, pressure, humidity or weight;

[0076] 2. Multi-channel input: The AD7175 supports 8 to 16 channels (depending on the specific model) and can be configured as fully differential or pseudo-differential inputs. It is suitable for systems that need to process multiple analog signals simultaneously, improving system integration and efficiency.

[0077] 3. Low noise performance: Its low noise characteristics ensure high accuracy even in the measurement of weak signals, which is critical for noise-sensitive applications such as medical equipment and scientific research instruments;

[0078] 4. Programmable Gain Amplifier (PGA): The built-in PGA allows the user to select the appropriate gain based on the strength of the input signal, optimizing the signal-to-noise ratio and further improving measurement accuracy and dynamic range;

[0079] 5. Flexible data rate: The output data rate can be adjusted between 5SPS (samples per second) and 250kSPS, making the AD7175 adaptable to application environments with different speed requirements;

[0080] 6. Digital interface: Provide digital interfaces such as SPI or I2C to facilitate communication with microcontrollers or embedded systems for configuration and data reading;

[0081] 7. Low power operation: Suitable for portable or battery-powered devices as it provides high performance while maintaining low power consumption.

[0082] In some implementations, a multiplexer (or analog switch) can be used before the multiple drive channels of the precision measurement unit are connected to the amplification module to facilitate flexible access to the amplification circuit. In practice, the semiconductor precision measurement unit signal amplification and detection circuit also includes a second multiplexer (not shown), which is disposed between the PMU channel output and the amplification module to flexibly connect the channels to the amplified op amp circuit.

[0083] In some implementations, for high-precision applications, the second operational amplifier may preferably be an instrumentation amplifier, and a high-precision voltage reference may be used to improve the amplification accuracy of the instrumentation amplifier.

[0084] refer to Figure 3 The second operational amplifier OPA_2 is preferably an instrumentation operational amplifier, and the semiconductor precision measurement unit signal amplification detection circuit further includes a reference voltage circuit V REF , reference voltage circuit V REF Provides a preset reference benchmark for the reference terminal of the instrumentation operational amplifier to improve the accuracy of the operational amplifier.

[0085] In one example, the second op amp may preferably be INA826AID.

[0086] The INA826AID is a high-performance instrumentation amplifier integrated circuit with the following key features:

[0087] 1. High-precision signal amplification: The INA826AID is designed to amplify weak differential signals while maintaining a very high common-mode rejection ratio (CMRR) and low offset voltage. This makes it ideal for applications that require precise measurement of tiny voltage differences, such as sensor signal amplification, biomedical measurements, and signal conditioning in industrial control systems.

[0088] 2. Low power consumption: The amplifier has low supply current consumption (typically 200μA), which is particularly important for battery-powered devices or applications with strict power consumption requirements;

[0089] 3. Wide operating voltage range: The INA826AID can operate over a wide supply voltage range of 2.7V to 36V, which means it can adapt to a variety of power supply environments, increasing its application flexibility;

[0090] 4. Rail-to-rail output: Providing rail-to-rail output capability means that the amplifier output can be very close to the upper and lower limits of the power supply voltage, thereby maximizing the dynamic range and improving signal utilization efficiency;

[0091] 5. Single-channel configuration: As a single-channel instrumentation amplifier, the INA826AID is particularly suitable for systems that only need to amplify a differential signal;

[0092] 6. Easy to use: The gain can be set by an external resistor (RG), and the gain range is generally supported from 1 to 10000 (100dB), allowing designers to easily adjust the amplification factor according to specific application requirements;

[0093] 7. Package form: Usually multiple package options are provided, such as SOIC-8, VSSOP, etc., to adapt to the design requirements and space constraints of different circuit boards.

[0094] In summary, the INA826AID instrumentation amplifier plays an important role in the design of electronic circuits that require high-precision signal amplification, especially in application scenarios that have strict requirements on noise suppression, power efficiency, and operating voltage range.

[0095] In some embodiments, since multiple voltage-stabilizing circuits are used within the PMU system to form different operating power supply voltages for the circuit, the operating voltage of the amplification detection unit can be provided by the PMU system, thereby eliminating the need to independently design a corresponding voltage-stabilizing circuit, simplifying the circuit structure, and reducing circuit area and cost.

[0096] refer to Figure 3 As shown in the figure, there are three voltage stabilization circuits designed in the PMU system:

[0097] PMIC_1 (Power Management IC): Generates a positive analog power supply. This provides a positive power supply to analog circuits, such as the +15V analog operating voltage required by PMUs, single-supply op amps, and other voltage regulators (such as PMIC_2).

[0098] PMIC_2 (Power Management IC): used to generate negative analog power. As a negative analog power supply, it can provide negative power to analog circuits, such as the -15V analog operating voltage required by PMU, dual-power op amps, and other circuits.

[0099] PMIC_3 (Power Management IC): an analog power supply and / or a digital power supply for generating a lower voltage, such as for PMU, ADC, VREF, etc. REF The 3.3V voltage is provided by the VREF circuit.

[0100] In addition, the power input is a power supply for powering the system, which can be provided by an external power adapter or a stabilized power supply. The power supply provides power to the system after passing through the filter, and the power supply can filter out high-frequency interference after passing through the filter. The power input in the present application can be a 12V power supply. If PMIC_1 forms a 15V output, a boost circuit can be preferred.

[0101] For example, the 12V voltage is boosted to 15V by PMIC_1, the 15V voltage is output to -15V by PMIC_2, and the 12V or 15V voltage is output to 3.3V by PMIC_3, etc. The specific voltage stabilizing circuit form is not limited.

[0102] Therefore, the working voltage of the amplification module and / or the working voltage of the detection module can be provided by the precision measurement unit. For example, the precision measurement unit PMU provides the required first analog working voltage (such as 15V, ±15V, etc.) to the operational amplifier; for example, the second analog power supply voltage and / or the digital power supply voltage is provided by the precision measurement unit PMU to the ADC, VREF, etc. circuit.

[0103] Based on the same inventive concept, after using the amplification and detection circuit in the above examples, the present application can also provide a new type of precision measurement unit (PMU), that is, the current capability of the PMU can be flexibly adapted to the needs of semiconductor testing.

[0104] Reference Figures 1 to 3 For example, the present application provides a semiconductor test precision measurement unit, which can include: a semiconductor precision measurement unit signal amplification and detection circuit as described in any one of the examples in the present application, wherein the semiconductor precision measurement unit signal amplification and detection circuit is used to amplify the current output by the drive channel by a predetermined amplification factor and output to the semiconductor device to be tested.

[0105] In the implementation, the amplification module and the detection module in the amplification and detection unit can be arranged close to the PMU, which facilitates the formation of a PMU system with multiple channel outputs, and the PMU system can be flexibly adapted to various load boards for testing.

[0106] Based on the same inventive concept, after using the amplification and detection circuit in the above examples, the present application can also provide a new type of load board (Load Board), that is, the current capability of the PMU can be flexibly adapted to the needs of semiconductor testing.

[0107] Reference Figures 1 to 3Schematic diagram of a semiconductor test load board, comprising: a semiconductor precision measurement unit signal amplification detection circuit as described in any example in the present application, wherein the semiconductor precision measurement unit signal amplification detection circuit is used to amplify the output current of the driving channel of the precision measurement unit according to a preset amplification factor and then output it to the semiconductor device to be tested.

[0108] During implementation, the amplification module and detection module in the amplification and detection unit can be set close to the load board, closer to the device under test. This will achieve the best test accuracy, minimize compensation errors, and allow for more flexible adaptation according to the actual current capability required by the device under test.

[0109] Based on the same inventive concept, after adopting the amplification detection circuit in the above example, the present application can also provide a new type of test machine, that is, it can enable the current capability of the test machine (or the PMU system in the test machine) to flexibly adapt to semiconductor testing.

[0110] refer to Figures 1 to 3 As shown, a semiconductor testing machine may include: the semiconductor precision measurement unit or the semiconductor test load board as described in the aforementioned examples of this application, wherein the output current of the driving channel of the precision measurement unit is used to drive the semiconductor device to be tested after passing through the amplification detection unit.

[0111] It should be noted that the test machine may refer to a test machine including a PMU system and a host computer, or may refer to a machine including only a PMU system, which is not limited here.

[0112] In one example, the connection between the host computer and the PMU can be based on a traditional bus method, such as RS232, SPI, I 2 C, USB-UART, etc. The host computer can programmatically adjust the PMU based on this bus connection method.

[0113] In one example, when the PMU system includes a microcontroller unit (MCU), the host computer can also program and adjust the PMU through the MCU. For example, the host computer sends the programming data to the MCU through the USB-UART protocol, and the MCU then programs it to the PMU through the SPI protocol.

[0114] refer to Figure 5 As shown in the figure, the communication connection between the microcontroller (MCU) and the PMU is realized based on the SPI interface. The communication process of the SPI can refer to the existing technology or the following figure:

[0115] (1) MCU enables PMU by changing the SPI_CS signal from high level to low level;

[0116] (2) SPI_SCK of MCU will always send a square wave signal with a fixed period to PMU;

[0117] (3) MCU transmits data to PMU via SPI_MISO signal;

[0118] (4) PMU transmits data to MCU via SPI_MOSI.

[0119] In this specification, the same or similar parts between the various embodiments can be referred to each other, and each embodiment focuses on the differences from other embodiments. In particular, for the embodiments described later, the description is relatively simple, and the relevant parts can be referred to the partial description of the previous embodiments.

[0120] The above description is merely a specific embodiment of the present application, but the scope of protection of the present application is not limited thereto. Any changes or substitutions that can be easily conceived by a person skilled in the art within the technical scope disclosed in the present application should be included in the scope of protection of the present application. Therefore, the scope of protection of the present application should be based on the scope of protection of the claims.

Claims

1. A semiconductor precision measurement unit signal amplification detection circuit, characterized in that: include: an amplification module for amplifying the output current of a target drive channel by a preset multiple based on the current required by the semiconductor device under test during testing and the current capability of the target drive channel of the precision measurement unit in the semiconductor automated test equipment, wherein the target drive channel is a drive channel used by the precision measurement unit to drive the semiconductor device under test; A detection module includes a sampling resistor and a detection circuit, wherein the sampling resistor is used to sample the voltage signal of the target drive channel after being amplified by the amplification module; The detection circuit is used to output the current signal amplified by the amplification module to the semiconductor device to be tested, and to detect the voltage signal sampled by the sampling resistor using the sensing channel of the precision measurement unit.

2. The semiconductor precision measurement unit signal amplification detection circuit according to claim 1, characterized in that: The amplification module includes a first operational amplifier, a first switch, and a gain adjustment branch; wherein the first switch is connected in series between the inverting input and output of the first operational amplifier; the gain adjustment branch includes a resistive gain branch and a second switch, the second switch and the resistive gain branch are connected in series between the inverting input and output of the first operational amplifier, the resistive gain branch is used to set the non-inverting amplification gain of the first operational amplifier, and the second switch is used to connect or disconnect the resistive gain branch from the first operational amplifier; wherein the control signal of the first switch and the control signal of the second switch are mutually inverted signals, when the first switch is turned on and the second switch is turned off, the first operational amplifier operates in a buffer amplifier state, and when the first switch is turned off and the second switch is turned on, the first operational amplifier operates in a non-inverting amplifier state.

3. The semiconductor precision measurement unit signal amplification detection circuit according to claim 2, characterized in that: The first switch and / or the second switch is a relay; And / or, the resistance gain branch includes a first resistor and a second resistor, wherein the first resistor and / or the second resistor is an adjustable resistor; And / or, the first operational amplifier comprises a power operational amplifier with high operating voltage, high output current and / or wide output voltage swing; And / or, the inverting input terminal of the first operational amplifier is further used to access the second driving channel, so as to form a subtractor circuit using the first operational amplifier.

4. The semiconductor precision measurement unit signal amplification detection circuit according to claim 1, characterized in that: The detection circuit includes a second operational amplifier, an analog-to-digital converter, and a microcontroller, wherein the second operational amplifier is used to amplify the voltage signal sampled by the sampling resistor and input the amplified voltage signal into the sensing channel of the precision measurement unit and the analog-to-digital converter respectively; The analog-to-digital converter is used to digitally convert the voltage signal; the microcontroller is used to transmit the digital signal converted by the analog-to-digital converter to the host computer, so that the host computer can compare the first detection result obtained based on the perception channel detection of the precision measurement unit with the digital signal transmitted by the microcontroller.

5. The semiconductor precision measurement unit signal amplification detection circuit according to claim 4, characterized in that: The analog-to-digital converter is a single-channel analog-to-digital converter, and the semiconductor precision measurement unit signal amplification detection circuit further includes a first multiplexer, wherein the first multiplexer is used to select and connect multiple second operational amplifier output signals to the analog-to-digital converter; And / or, the second operational amplifier includes an instrumentation operational amplifier, and the semiconductor precision measurement unit signal amplification detection circuit further includes a reference voltage circuit, which is used to provide a preset reference reference for a reference terminal of the instrumentation operational amplifier; And / or, the analog-to-digital converter is a converter including an SPI interface, and the microcontroller and the analog-to-digital converter are communicatively connected based on the SPI bus.

6. The semiconductor precision measurement unit signal amplification detection circuit according to claim 1, characterized in that: The semiconductor precision measurement unit signal amplification and detection circuit further includes a second multiplexer, wherein the second multiplexer is used to selectively connect the multiple driving channels of the precision measurement unit to the amplification circuit.

7. The semiconductor precision measurement unit signal amplification detection circuit according to any one of claims 1 to 6, characterized in that: The working voltage of the amplifying module is provided by a first analog working voltage provided by the precision measuring unit, and the working voltage of the detecting module is provided by a second analog power supply voltage and / or a digital power supply voltage provided by the precision measuring unit.

8. A semiconductor test precision measurement unit, characterized in that: include: The semiconductor precision measurement unit signal amplification detection circuit according to any one of claims 1 to 7, wherein the semiconductor precision measurement unit signal amplification detection circuit is used to amplify the current output by the drive channel according to a preset amplification factor and then output it to the semiconductor device to be tested.

9. A semiconductor test load board, characterized in that: include: The semiconductor precision measurement unit signal amplification detection circuit according to any one of claims 1 to 7, wherein the semiconductor precision measurement unit signal amplification detection circuit is used to amplify the output current of the driving channel of the precision measurement unit according to a preset amplification factor and then output it to the semiconductor device to be tested.

10. A semiconductor testing machine, characterized in that: include: The semiconductor precision measurement unit according to claim 8 or the semiconductor test load board according to claim 9, wherein the output current of the driving channel of the precision measurement unit is used to drive the semiconductor device to be tested after passing through the amplification detection unit.

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