Semiconductor and integrated circuit developments continue to proceed at an incredible pace. For example, today’s application-specific ICs and microprocessors can contain upwards of 100 million transistors. Traditional testing relies on the stuck-at-fault (SAF) to model defect behavior. Unfortunately, the SAF model is a poor model for defects. Other models and strategies are required to catch killer defects on integrated circuits. As transistor sizes decrease, the types and properties of the killer defects change. This has created a number of challenges related to the testing of components. Defect-Based Testing is a 2-day course that offers detailed instruction on the electrical behavior and test strategies for integrated circuits. We place special emphasis on electrical behavior, fault models, and test techniques. This course is a must for every manager, engineer, and technician working in IC test, IC design, or supplying test hardware and software tools to the industry.

By focusing on the fundamentals of circuit behavior and the impact of defects on circuit behavior, participants will learn how to design, write, and implement test strategies to catch defects. Our instructors work hard to explain semiconductor test without delving heavily into the complex algorithms and computer science that normally accompany this discipline.

Failure and Yield Analysis is an increasingly difficult and complex process. Today, engineers are required to locate defects on complex integrated circuits. In many ways, this is akin to locating a needle in a haystack, where the needles get smaller and the haystack gets bigger every year. Engineers are required to understand a variety of disciplines in order to effectively perform failure analysis. This requires knowledge of subjects like: design, testing, technology, processing, materials science, chemistry, and even optics! Failed devices and low yields can lead to customer returns and idle manufacturing lines that can cost a company millions of dollars a day. Your industry needs competent analysts to help solve these problems. Failure and Yield Analysis is a 4-day course that offers detailed instruction on a variety of effective tools, as well as the overall process flow for locating and characterizing the defect responsible for the failure. This course is designed for every manager, engineer, and technician working in the semiconductor field, using semiconductor components or supplying tools to the industry.

By focusing on a Do It Right the First Time approach to the analysis, participants will learn the appropriate methodology to successfully locate defects, characterize them, and determine the root cause of failure.

Package reliability and qualification continues to evolve with the electronics industry. New electronics applications require new approaches to reliability and qualification. In the past, reliability meant discovering, characterizing and modeling failure mechanisms, and determining their impact on the reliability of the circuit. Today, reliability can involve tradeoffs between performance and reliability; assessing the impact of new materials; dealing with limited margins, and other factors. This requires information on subjects like: statistics, testing, technology, processing, materials science, chemistry, and customer expectations. While customers expect high reliability levels, incorrect testing, calculations, and qualification procedures can severely impact reliability. Semiconductor Reliability and Product Qualification is a 4-day course that offers detailed instruction on a variety of subjects pertaining to semiconductor reliability and qualification. This course is designed for every manager, engineer, and technician concerned with reliability in the semiconductor field, qualifying semiconductor components, or supplying tools to the industry.