Company

Celadon Systems, Inc. based in Burnsville, Minnesota, is a worldwide leader in high performance probing solutions for monitoring DC parameters of semiconductor devices at the wafer level. Celadon focuses on the probe card which makes electrical contact with the wafer, the card holder, cabling and interfaces to the semiconductor test system.

Celadon holds many international patents and has solved major industry problems such as:

  • Probe card crash resistance
  • Ultra low leakage
  • Fast settling time
  • Simplified reliable interconnects
  • Multi-Site high temperature burn in
  • Wafer matched thermal expansion probe cards
  • Multi-Site probe card in ceramic probing technologies

We are the technology leader in providing Multi-Site probing solutions which operate over a standard temperature range from -65°C to +300°C. Our products are ideally matched to customers in semiconductor R/D labs, or wafer fab production, who wish to monitor wafer level reliability (WLR) of transistors, circuits, or semiconductor process characteristics.

Our Vision

Celadon Systems, Inc. was created to satisfy the industry need for high accuracy device characterization and for monitoring wafer level reliability (WLR) tests over many sites on a wafer, over a long period of time (hours, days, or weeks). Such test include:

  • Transistor hot carrier injection (HCI)
  • Electromigration (EM)
  • Transistor negative bias temperature instability (NBTI)
  • Oxide time dependent dielectric breakdown (TDDB)

Conventional reliability testing has been done almost exclusively at the package level in burn-in ovens. Today’s nano-technology devices are ultra sensitive to packaging and handling damage. For TDDB tests on gate oxides less than 20 Angstroms thick, the only feasible way to test without damaging the devices is at the wafer level in a electrically shielded probe station equipped with a high temperature chuck. Celadon provides the capability to access a large number of devices (500 or more) for parallel reliability stress, and route them to a standard reliability test system, or a low level lab quality DC characterization system based on source monitor unit (SMU) technology.

Celadon strives to continuously produce new and innovative probing solutions for testing the reliability of emerging semiconductor technologies at the wafer level. This includes:

  • CMOS high-K dielectric processes
  • Copper metal interconnect
  • Compound semiconductor processes such as Silicon Carbide testing to +300°C or more.

Celadon’s probing solutions are particularly suitable for evaluating any semiconductor technology that operates under harsh temperature conditions (dense microprocessor technology, automotive, industrial, military, and solid state memory). Time and money can be saved by monitoring quality and performance at the wafer level vs. the expensive and time consuming methods of packaging and loading burn-in ovens with discretely packaged devices. Location information is retained by testing at the wafer level vs. package and the valuable wafer is not sacrificed. This helps pinpoint process defects by location and process step.

Our Values

Celadon prides itself in providing high quality probing solutions. The electrical and temperature performance of our products lead the industry and their durability and repairability is unsurpassed. The cards are designed to prevent accidental damage such as crashing the card into the wafer. Dragging the probes accidentally across the wafer might require -- at most -- a low-cost and quick turnaround alignment and cleaning by our factory. If a probe is ever damaged beyond repair, Celadon probes are designed to be easily replaced in minutes. We strive to provide the industry’s best service with turnaround times for repair typically less than 10 working days.