◆Chip production requires hundreds of steps in the process, and any mistake in one step can lead to device failure. Therefore, the chip testing process is crucial, and the use of good chip testing equipment and methods is one of the keys to improving the level of chip manufacturing. The rationality of integrated circuit design and the reliability of products need to be verified through functional and parameter testing of integrated circuits.

1、 The Three Core Devices for Integrated Circuit Chip Testing

◆The equipment manufacturing industry is the fundamental industry of integrated circuits, and it is the key to completing wafer manufacturing, packaging and testing, and achieving technological progress in integrated circuits. In the investment of integrated circuit production lines, equipment investment accounts for the total capital expenditureAbout 80% (estimated by SEMI).

◆The required specialized equipment mainly includes lithography machines and chemical vapor deposition required for the wafer manufacturing process（CVD equipment, etching machines, ion implantation machines, surface treatment equipment, etc; Cutting and thinning equipment, measurement defect detection equipment, bonding packaging equipment, etc. required for the packaging process; Testing machines, sorting machines, probe stations, etc. required for the testing process; And other diffusion, oxidation, and cleaning equipment required for front-end processes. The manufacturing of these devices requires the comprehensive use of scientific technologies such as optics, physics, and chemistry, which have the characteristics of high technical content, difficult manufacturing, and high equipment value.

◆The testing equipment for integrated circuits mainly includes testing machines, sorting machines, and probe stations. As important specialized equipment, integrated circuit testing equipment can not only judge the qualification of the tested chip or device, but also provide information about weak links in the design and manufacturing process, which helps to improve the level of chip manufacturing. Among them:

◆A testing machine is a specialized device used to test the functionality and performance of chips. The testing machine applies input signals to the chip and collects dataTESTCompare the output signal with the expected value to determine the effectiveness of the chip's functionality and performance under different operating conditions.

◆Sorting machine and probe station are specialized devices that connect the pins of chips with the functional modules of the testing machine and achieve batch automated testing. In the design verification and finished product testing stages, the testing machine needs to be used in conjunction with the sorting machine; In the wafer inspection process, the testing machine needs to be used in conjunction with the probe station.

2、 Technical difficulties of chip testing equipment:

◆The integrated circuit industry is a technology intensive and knowledge intensive high-tech industry that integrates computer, automation, communication, precision electronic testing, and microelectronics technologies. Integrated circuits have high requirements for reliability, stability, and consistency, as well as for production equipment. Therefore, the technical barriers for integrated circuit testing equipment are relatively high.

（1） Testing machine

◆As the application of integrated circuits becomes more and more widespread, the demand is increasing, and the requirements for testing costs are becoming higher. Therefore, the requirements for testing speed of testing machines are becoming higher and higher (such as the requirement for source response speed to reach microsecond level);

◆Due to the increasing number of integrated circuit parameter items, such as voltage, current, time, temperature, resistance, capacitance, frequency, pulse width, duty cycle, etc., there is a growing demand for functional modules in testing machines;

◆In terms of status, testing parameter monitoring, and production quality data analysis, combined with the application of big data, high requirements have been put forward for the data storage, collection, and analysis of the testing machine.

◆Customers have increasingly high requirements for integrated circuit testing accuracy (microvolt, microampere level accuracy), such as the requirement for clamping accuracy of testing machines1% has been increased to 0.25%, and the time measurement accuracy has been improved to microsecond level, with increasingly strict requirements for the testing accuracy of the testing machine;

◆The increase in the categories of integrated circuit products requires testing equipment to have a universal software development platform, which facilitates customer secondary application development to meet the testing needs of different products; Testing equipment suppliers for equipment;

（2） Sorting machine

◆The diversity of integrated circuit packaging forms requires sorting machines to have the ability to quickly switch between different packaging forms of integrated circuits during testing, thereby forming strong flexible production capabilities and adaptability;

◆Due to the miniaturization and integration characteristics of integrated circuits, sorting machines have high requirements for automated high-speed repetitive positioning control capability and pressure measurement accuracy, and the error accuracy is generally required to be within0.01mm grade;

◆The batch automation operation of the sorting machine requires strong operational stability, such asThe requirements for UPH (number of integrated circuits transported per hour) and Jam Rate are very high;

◆Integrated circuit testing has certain requirements for the external testing environment, for example, some integrated circuit testing requires-The technical difficulty of the sorting machine lies in how to provide the corresponding testing environment in various temperature testing environments ranging from 55 to 150 ℃, without magnetic field interference, and with multiple external field stacking testing environments.

（3） Probe station

◆Wafer inspection requires multiple sets of visual precision measurement and positioning systems, as well as the ability to visually calibrate and fit multiple coordinate systems together;

◆The precision requirements for the probe station are very strict, and the repeated positioning accuracy is required to reach0.001mm (micrometer) grade;

◆The probe station requires a high level of cleanliness in the working environment of the equipment. In addition to achieving fully automated operations with almost no human intervention, it also requires low dust in the transmission mechanism and special functions such as airflow dust removal.

◆Wafer inspection requires high equipment stability, and each executing device needs to be controlled for redundancy. The wafer damage rate should be controlled withinWithin 1ppm (parts per million);

3、 Rapid growth of domestic testing equipment enterprises

◆As the core of the semiconductor industry, integrated circuit chips have experienced rapid development in nearly half a century. Early integrated circuit companiesThe IDM (Integrated Device Manufacturing) mode is the main mode, IDM mode, also known as vertical integration mode, refers to the IC manufacturer (IDM) designing and selling finished chips that have been processed, packaged, and tested by themselves. The integrated circuit chip industry chain is beginning to develop towards a specialized vertical division of labor model.

◆With the increasing maturity of processing technology and the continuous improvement of standardization, the integrated circuit industry chain is beginning to develop towards specialized division of labor, Gradually formed independent chips

Design company（Fabless）、 Foundry and Package&Testing House have formed a new industry model - vertical division of labor.

In the vertical division of labor mode, design, manufacturing, and packaging testing are separated into independent links in the integrated circuit industry chain.

◆According to the International Semiconductor Association, in terms of global industrial chain distribution,In 2015, the revenue from chip design, wafer manufacturing, and packaging testing accounted for approximately 27%, 51%, and 22% of the overall sales revenue of the industry chain. At present, although most of the top 20 semiconductor manufacturers in the world are still IDM manufacturers, such as Intel, Samsung, Toshiba, Texas Instruments, STMicroelectronics, etc., due to the exponential increase in semiconductor technology research and development costs and wafer production line investment costs in recent years, more IDM manufacturers have begun to adopt the fab lite model, which entrusts wafer manufacturing to contract manufacturers, and even directly becomes independent chip design enterprises, such as AMD, NXP, Renesas, etc. Vertical division of labor has become the development direction of the semiconductor industry's business model.

4、 The main enterprise models in the semiconductor chip industry

◆Chips are a leading and fundamental industry, involving information security. Expanding and strengthening the integrated circuit industry has become a strategic leader for the transformation of state-owned industries. In recent years, the gap between China's integrated circuit technology level and the international level has been continuously narrowing, and the industry has entered a rapid development track. This mainly includes chip design companies such as Huawei HiSilicon and Ziguang Spreadtrum, wafer foundry manufacturers represented by SMIC and Shanghai Huahong, as well as chip packaging and testing enterprises led by Huatian Technology, Changdian Technology, and Tongfu Microelectronics. In addition, it also includes chip packaging and testing companies that adoptIDM models such as China Resources Microelectronics and Silan Microelectronics. The completed industrial ecosystem has the foundation to achieve import substitution of integrated circuit specialized equipment and solve the large market gap in China. The chip industry chain of China's vertical division of labor model has been preliminarily established, and the upstream, midstream, and downstream of the industry have been connected, giving rise to a group of representative local enterprises with strong strength.