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Integrated circuit probe card troubleshooting based on rough set theory for advanced quality control and an empirical study

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Abstract

Wafer probe test plays a crucial role to distinguish the good dies from the remaining defected dies on the wafers via the probe card as the testing signal interface between the tester and the integrated circuits on the fabricated wafers. Unexpected probe card failures that happen during the testing process will affect testing quality, reduce overall equipment efficiency and productivity. In practice, the engineers rely on domain knowledge and the process of trial and error for fault diagnosis and troubleshooting. However, as the IC device features are continuously shrinking with an increasing number and density of the bond pads of the circuits on the wafer, fault diagnosis and troubleshooting for probe card have become complicated and time-consuming. To fill the gap, this study aims to develop a data-driven framework that integrates rough set theory and domain knowledge to derive effective decision rules to enhance the decision quality and efficiency for advanced quality control and smart manufacturing. An empirical study was conducted in a leading semiconductor testing company in Taiwan for validation. The proposed framework can shorten fault diagnosis procedure and enhance productivity, while enhancing probing test integrity to reduce both the producer risk and customer risk. The developed solution is implemented in real setting.

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Acknowledgements

This research is supported by National Science and Technology Council, Taiwan (MOST 110-2634-F-007-008; MOST 110-2634-F-007-017) and the MPI Corporation, Taiwan.

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Correspondence to Chen-Fu Chien.

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Appendix

Appendix

The terminology and notations for RST are defined as the following table.

S

An information system S = (U, A, V, f)

U

Universe of all objects \({u}_{j }, {u}_{j}\in U\)

A

Finite set of all the attributes \({a}_{k} , {a}_{k}\in A\)

V

Universe of all the attribute values \({V}_{{a}_{k }},\mathrm{ V}= {\cup }_{{a}_{k}\in A}{V}_{{a}_{k}}\)

\(f\)

Information function for \({u}_{j}\in U\) and \({a}_{k}\in A\), \(f\left({u}_{j}, {a}_{k}\right)\in {V}_{{a}_{k }}\)

X

Subset of objects of universe U, \(X\subseteq U\)

D

A non-empty subset of the attributes \({a}_{d}\in D\), \(D\subseteq A\)

\({V}_{{a}_{k}}\)

Domain of finite attribute values of the attribute \({a}_{k}\),\({a}_{k}\in A\)

\({I}_{D}\)

D-indiscernible with respect to D

\({I}_{D}(.)\)

The elementary set of objects with the D-indiscernible relation

\(\underline{D}X\)

Lower approximation of X in D

\(\overline{D}X\)

Upper approximation of X in D

\({BN}_{D}(X)\)

Boundary region between \(\underline{D}X\) and \(\overline{D}X\)

\({\alpha }_{D}(x)\)

Accuracy of approximation for set X

\({POS}_{D}(E)\)

D-positive region of E

\(Reduct(D)\)

Set including all the reducts of D

Core(D)

The most essential subset of D

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Chien, CF., Wu, HJ. Integrated circuit probe card troubleshooting based on rough set theory for advanced quality control and an empirical study. J Intell Manuf 35, 275–287 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10845-022-02042-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10845-022-02042-8

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