Jun J Song

US Patent:

7223616, May 29, 2007

Filed:

Jun 4, 2004

Appl. No.:

10/862049

Inventors:

Franklin Duan - San Jose CA, US
Maureen Ardans - Gresham OR, US
Jun Song - Cupertino CA, US

Assignee:

LSI Corporation - Milpitas CA

International Classification:

G01R 31/26
H01L 21/66
H01L 23/58
H01L 29/10

US Classification:

438 18, 257 48, 257E21531, 257E21523

Abstract:

The present invention is test structures in unused areas of semiconductor integrated circuits and methods for designing the same. In an exemplary aspect of the present invention, a method for placing test structures in a semiconductor integrated circuit includes: (a) detecting a dummy area in a semiconductor integrated circuit, the semiconductor integrated circuit including probe pads on a top metal layer; (b) filling the dummy area with active test cells, the active test cells being connected to one another; and (c) connecting each of the active test cells to the probe pads with a metal line.