Cascade Microtech has brought its Tesla tool to market for on-wafer testing of power devices, a capability which was previously absent.
The Beaverton, Oregon, company started selling the Tesla power semiconductor device characterisation system in June, although beta testing had previously been performed by companies developing power MOSFETs.
The Tesla will be sold to makers of all forms of power semiconductor products, including SiC and GaN-based devices.
To test the devices whilst still on the wafer, the equipment maker had to develop a product with probes and wafer chucks that can handle up to 3000 V and 60 A.
Previously, the inability of on-wafer testing tools to operate reliably over these very tough conditions has forced power device makers to package chips before testing.
“It will have a huge effect on our productivity by reducing the wasted time and steps we incur in packaging while still providing accurate data,” said Edouard de Fresart, power device section manager in Freescale Semiconductor's SMARTMOS technology center.
Cascade has created two probes to enable on-wafer testing: a high current parametric probe which provides up to 10 A DC and 60 A in pulsed mode, and a high voltage parametric probe which provides up to 1100 V for triaxial and 3000 V for coaxial measurements.
The probes combine with a chuck set-up called Vacuchannel to protect against wafer breakages, optimized specifically for power devices.
Vacuchannel minimizes wafer to chuck contact resistance for vertical power device structures and provides a -55 to 200 deg C operating temperature range.
Philippe Roussel of Yole Développement estimates the global power semiconductor market which the Tesla is aimed at to be worth $26 billion, with GaN devices capable of securing a segment within this of more than $3 billion in the future.
“There is interest worldwide for this kind of product,” said Cali Sartor, senior product manager for Cascade Microtech “including manufacturers that were not customers prior to the release of Tesla.”