FormFactor Ships the Production 64-Device In-Parallel Dram Probe Card

FormFactor Inc. announced it commenced shipping of the world's first production 64 device-under-test (DUT) probe card for production wafer probing of 64 megabit synchronous DRAMs. The 64-DUT probe card reduces the time required to test a wafer from over four hours to less than one hour, allowing customers to increase test throughput by over 75% -- dramatically reducing operating costs and depreciation.

FormFactor's new 64-DUT probe card solution is a straightforward extension of our production proven 32-DUT MicroSpring contact technology.

"Our customers are thrilled with the results and plan to convert their production of DRAMs to 64-DUT parallelism as soon as possible. We expect 64 in-parallel testing to become the mainstay of the DRAM industry driven by the very real need for cost reduction," says Mark Brandemuehl, VP of marketing at FormFactor.

According to FormFactor, increasing parallelism at probe is critical to extending Moore's law to the back-end of semiconductor production. Moore's Law states that transistor density and performance will double every 18 months and that the cost to produce those transistors will drop by one half in the same 18 months. This rule has held for wafer manufacturing costs since Dr. Gordon Moore of Intel stated it in the early 1960s. Unfortunately, Moore's Law has never applied to semiconductor test or packaging.

FormFactor's MicroSpring contact technology enables FormFactor to build probe cards of increasing parallelism as DRAM manufacturers shrink their transistor sizes and increase the die output of the fab. When shrinking from 0.35 micron to 0.18 micron the megabits of memory produced per month out of a DRAM factory increases by a factor of seven. This shrinking is accomplished in the wafer fabrication area with no increase in floor space and a minimum of equipment purchases.

In contrast, without rapidly increasing test parallelism, the wafer test floor requires a seven-fold increase in the number of testers and probers. With FormFactor's highly-parallel probe cards, based on the MicroSpring contact technology, the number of testers and probers required to support the same shrink will increase by only 67%, leading to savings in capital expenditures of as much as $30 million over the life of a fab.

FormFactor's high-parallelism 32- and 64-Device Under Test (DUT) memory probe cards provide multiple benefits to customers, including improved electrical performance, increased wafer throughput, and elimination of probe card downtime and maintenance. FormFactor probe cards are in production at over 20 wafer fabs worldwide.

The new 64-DUT in-parallel probe cards will allow customers of the proven 32-DUT technology to significantly increase die output and maintain the benefits of improved electrical performance and elimination of probe card downtime and maintenance says the company.

"Teradyne and FormFactor have been working together since 1996, delivering the industry's first 32-DUT in parallel probing solutions on the J994W and J996FA wafer probe systems. Higher parallelism has made significant contributions toward lowering the cost to test in Memory," says Harold LaBonte, marketing manager of Teradyne's Memory Test Division. Boston-based Teradyne is a manufacturer of automatic test equipment (ATE) for the electronics industry.

"Looking ahead, we are convinced that higher parallelism (64 device and beyond), in conjunction with core speed testing of memories, will enable further reductions in test cost at probe. Core speed test of memories will further lower costs with yield improvements gained by finding more repairable die as well as through higher throughput," LaBonte says.

LaBonte reports that high-bandwidth probe cards will also play a key role as more testing moves to wafer level on high-speed devices like RAMBUS. Teradyne's interface to the wafer through FormFactor's MicroSpring technology delivers over 1 GHz bandwidth, enabling high speed testing without signal degradation on the Aries test system.

Additionally, Gary Fleeman, Advantest America's Memory Product manager says FormFactor has delivered on its commitment for a new probe card technology, which provides higher throughput and productivity in a probe environment. Santa Clara, CA-based Advantest is an automatic test equipment supplier to the semiconductor industry, and is also one of the world's leading producers of electronic and optoelectronic instruments and systems.

"FormFactor greatly increased the productivity of Advantest's probe test solution," Fleeman adds. "FormFactor's probe card makes maximum use of our tester's parallel resources."

"Our customers get a superb solution for probe card test with the superior reliability and docking of Advantest's test system combined with FormFactor's enhanced probe card," Fleeman says. "Advantest looks forward to continuing collaboration with FormFactor -- our relationship promises even more boosts to test capability and a continued reduction of wafer test costs."

FormFactor Inc. 5666 La Ribera Street, Livermore, CA 94550. Phone: 925-294-4300.