| 20100213968 | TESTING INTEGRATED CIRCUITS - A test insert for an integrated circuit according to the present invention comprises access contacts and an electrical path. Furthermore, there may be additional access contacts and a plurality of different electrical paths. The electrical path is comprised of a plurality of tracks, each track provided at a single layer of the integrated circuit and connected to the other tracks by interconnecting vias. The vias provide interlayer contacts and thus allow the tracks to be connected into a single electrical track. In one embodiment, an access contact is connected to ground; another contact is connected to a reference voltage; and connected to various points in the electrical path are transistor-resistor pairs. The transistor-resistor pairs are in connected between earth and a third access contact. If the electrical path is intact at the track connected to a transistor-resistor pair, a current can flow between contact and the respective earth of the transistor-resistor pair. By analysing the current drawn from contact it can be deduced whether the path is operational as a whole and if not, how far along the path a fault lies. This can therefore isolate a particular interconnection between layers or a particular layer as being faulty. | 08-26-2010 |
