Big Data Analytics Software for Semiconductor Reliability Testing

The semiconductor industry spends over six billion dollars in testing and qualification of IC (integrated circuit) chip products per year. Analysis of reliability and related testing requires a huge amount of data management and computation. The market for software to analyze this data is currently fragmented. Most of the work is performed by using out-dated tools and generic spreadsheet-based software with little or no option for sharing the data between different parts of the work flow with ease and, hence, is neither efficient nor cost-effective. ESDIT2 LLC (DBA iT2 Technologies) is developing a novel ecosystem for test data and work flow management for semiconductor reliability testing including ESD (Electrostatic Discharge) and FA (Failure Analysis). With a powerful computational engine based on artificial intelligence and a user-friendly interface, the iT2 software automates the process of complicated analysis of very large amount of stress and test data providing easy-to- interpret pass-and-fail results while guiding the user for further debug of chip design including failure analysis. In order to lower the cost of stress testing and to improve cycle time and quality, the users will have access to a network of independent test labs and world- wide subject matter experts linked through a highly intuitive app. By reducing the cost of maintaining internal reliability labs for IC qualification, ESD test, and failure analysis, a typical semiconductor technology company will save hundreds of thousands of dollars per year as no software tool encompassing these features and depth exists in the market today. The cost saving can go even higher if these companies out-source their reliability testing entirely using iT2's network of independent labs and expert reviewers within the United States but located in different states and not just local. Other novel features include the capability of the analytical portion of the software is to automatically detect noise in the data for precise and accurate results and to distinguish between true and false failures. Data mining and search functions are being added. Image recognition will be incorporated for automatic failure analysis. This will be used to distinguish between different types of failure modes in an IC with little or no need for human intervention and interpretation. iT2 has strong relations with the potential customers thanks to its key players being involved in this industry for the past several years and decades and, thus, having a deep understanding of the market in question. The target clients are all major semiconductor suppliers such as Intel, Qualcomm, Texas Instruments, NXP, and Broadcom and their customers including Apple, Samsung, HP, and Sony. During Phase I, iT2 plans to complete its automated analytical solution of ESD and other reliability test data and workflow software as outlined above and release to production after the initial step of beta testing with select customers. Phase II will be the continuation of completion of external and independent lab and expert reviewer network for its customers which allow them to outsource their internal reliability test labs. Second part of Phase II will be related to the development of the mobile app for its entire ecosystem. The main commercial benefits for the semiconductor companies will be the significant time and cost savings since they will be able to efficiently perform the analysis of large amount of reliability data and reduce or eliminate the cost of operating internal reliability labs. The improvement of the standard of reliability and quality will have a direct benefit to the electronics industry and public safety in consumer, automotive, medical, and military applications.