Testing Station for Fast Screening of Through Silicon Via (TSV)-enabled Application Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs) for Hard X-ray Imaging Detectors

TL;DR

This paper introduces a rapid screening test stand for TSV-enabled ASICs used in space X-ray detectors, demonstrating its effectiveness in evaluating performance and facilitating large-scale detector array development.

Contribution

The development of the ASIC Test Stand (ATS) provides a new method for fast, reliable screening of TSV ASICs, overcoming solder ball alignment issues and supporting large detector arrays.

Findings

ATS successfully tested TSV ASICs with performance matching or exceeding wafer-level tests.

ATS can be expanded for parallel screening in large detector arrays.

TSV ASICs show promising performance for space X-ray imaging detectors.

Abstract

Application Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs) are used in space-borne instruments for signal processing and detector readout. The electrical interface of these ASICs to frontend printed circuit boards (PCBs) is commonly accomplished with wire bonds. Through Silicon Via (TSV) technology has been proposed as an alternative interconnect technique that will reduce assembly complexity of ASIC packaging by replacing wire bonding with flip-chip bonding. TSV technology is advantageous in large detector arrays where TSVs enable close detector tiling on all sides. Wafer-level probe card testing of TSV ASICs is frustrated by solder balls introduced onto the ASIC surface for flip-chip bonding that hamper alignment. Therefore, we developed the ASIC Test Stand (ATS) to enable rapid screening and characterization of individual ASIC die. We successfully demonstrated ATS operation on ASICs originally developed for CdZnTe detectors on the Nuclear Spectroscopic and Telescope Array (NuSTAR) mission that were later modified with TSVs in a via-last process. We tested both back-side blind-TSVs and front-side through-TSVs, with results from internal test pulser measurements that demonstrate performance equal to or exceeding the probe card wafer-level testing data. The ATS can easily be expanded or duplicated in order to parallelize ASIC screening for large area imaging detectors of future space programs.