What is claimed is:
1. A characterization vehicle, comprising:
a substrate having at least one layer; and
a plurality of pairs of lines on a single surface of a single layer of the substrate, each pair of lines having a shared pad therebetween.
2. The characterization vehicle of claim 1, wherein the lines are nested serpentine lines.
3. The characterization vehicle of claim 2, wherein none of the nested serpentine lines crosses any other one of the nested serpentine lines.
4. The characterization vehicle of claim 2, wherein the nested serpentine lines within each pair are not adjacent to each other.
5. The characterization vehicle of claim 2, wherein:
each pair of lines includes a respective first line and a respective second line;
the first lines are arranged in a first sequence; and
the second lines are arranged in a second sequence different from the first sequence.
6. The characterization vehicle of claim 5, wherein:
each first line has a respective position within the first sequence;
each second line has a respective position within the second sequence; and
within each pair of lines, the position of the second line within the second sequence is different from the position of the corresponding first line within the first sequence.
7. The characterization vehicle of claim 5, wherein:
the first line in each pair is adjacent to one or more neighboring first lines;
the second line in each pair is adjacent to one or more neighboring second lines; and
the one or more neighboring second lines corresponding to the second line in each respective pair belong to different pairs of lines than the one or more neighboring lines corresponding to the first line in that pair.
8. The characterization vehicle of claim 5, wherein:
for each position, the first line having that position in the first sequence belongs to a different pair of lines than the second line having that position within the second sequence.
9. The characterization vehicle of claim 2, wherein:
the surface has first and second sides;
each pair of nested serpentine lines includes a first line and a second line, such that:
the first line extends beyond the pads on the first side of the surface;
the second line extends beyond the pads on the second side of the surface; and
none of the nested serpentine lines crosses any other one of the nested serpentine lines.
10. A method of designing a characterization vehicle, comprising the steps of:
arranging a plurality of pairs of lines on a single surface of a single layer of a substrate; and
locating a respective shared pad between the lines of each pair of lines.
11. The method of claim 10, wherein the lines are nested serpentine lines.
12. The method of claim 11, wherein none of the nested serpentine lines crosses any other one of the nested serpentine lines.
13. The method of claim 11, wherein the nested serpentine lines within each pair are not adjacent to each other.
14. The method of claim 11, wherein:
each pair of lines includes a respective first line and a respective second line;
the first lines are arranged in a first sequence; and
the second lines are arranged in a second sequence different from the first sequence.
15. The method of claim 14, wherein:
each first line has a respective position within the first sequence;
each second line has a respective position within the second sequence; and
within each pair of lines, the position of the second line within the second sequence is different from the position of the corresponding first line within the first sequence.
16. The method of claim 14, wherein:
the first line in each pair is adjacent to one or more neighboring first lines;
the second line in each pair is adjacent to one or more neighboring second lines; and
the one or more neighboring second lines corresponding to the second line in each respective pair belong to different pairs of lines than the one or more neighboring lines corresponding to the first line in that pair.
17. A method of identifying defects, comprising the steps of:
fabricating a characterization vehicle by forming a plurality of pairs of lines on a single surface of a single layer of a substrate, each pair of lines having a shared pad therebetween; and
collecting defect data from the characterization vehicle.
18. The method of claim 17, wherein the lines are nested serpentine lines.
19. The method of claim 18, further comprising determining which one of a pair of serpentine lines sharing a pad therebetween has a defect by identifying a sequence of serpentine lines that are shorted together.
20. A method of determining defect size distributions, comprising the steps of:
(a) collecting defect size distributions from a characterization vehicle by forming a plurality of pairs of lines on a single surface of a single layer of a substrate, each pair of nested having a shared pad therebetween; and
(b) determining which one of a pair of lines sharing a pad therebetween has a defect by identifying a sequence of the that are shorted together.
21. The method of claim 20, wherein the lines are nested serpentine lines.
22. The method of claim 21, wherein step (a) includes forming a histogram of a number of defects detected versus defect size.
23. The method of claim 21, wherein step (a) includes forming a histogram of a number of defects detected versus defect size.
24. The method of claim 23, further comprising using the defect density function to form a yield model.
The claims below are in addition to those above.
All refrences to claim(s) which appear below refer to the numbering after this setence.
1. A method, comprising:
entering a standby mode, wherein in the standby mode, at least one component of a communications device is shutdown, and at least one channel is scanned for potential interference;
monitoring, in the standby mode, exchanged traffic with the communications device;
determining a relative volume of the exchanged traffic, compared to a predetermined threshold;
based on the determination of the relative volume of the exchanged traffic and the predetermined threshold, entering a power save standby mode,
wherein in the power save standby mode, scanning of the at least one channel is terminated; and
monitoring, in the power save standby mode, the exchanged traffic to determine whether the relative volume of exchanged traffic has changed with regard to the predetermined threshold.
2. The method of claim 1, wherein in power save standby mode, the at least one channel is terminated.
3. The method of claim 1, further comprising, in response to determining that the relative volume of exchanged traffic has changed with regard to the predetermined threshold, resuming the scanning of the at least one channel.
4. The method of claim 1, wherein determining whether the exchanged traffic is below a predetermined threshold does not include received broadcast and multicast traffic.
5. The method of claim 1, wherein the communications device is configured to communicate data in an IEEE 802.11n protocol.
6. The method of claim 1, wherein the communications device is configured to support at least one 40 MHz channel in a 2.4 GHz frequency band.
7. A non-transitory computer readable medium, comprising:
entering logic configured to enter a standby mode, wherein in the standby mode, at least one component of a communications device is shutdown, and at least one channel is scanned for potential interference;
first monitoring logic configured to monitor exchanged traffic with the communications device while in the standby mode;
determining logic configured to determine a relative volume of the exchanged traffic, compared to a predetermined threshold;
scanning logic configured to, based on the determination of the relative volume of the exchanged traffic and the predetermined threshold, enter a power save standby mode, wherein in the power save standby mode, scanning of the at least one channel is terminated; and
second monitoring logic configured to monitor, in the power save standby mode, the exchanged traffic to determine whether the relative volume of exchanged traffic has changed with regard to the predetermined threshold.
8. The computer readable medium of claim 7, wherein the monitoring logic is configured to exclude received broadcast traffic.
9. The computer readable medium of claim 7, wherein the monitoring logic is configured to exclude received multicast traffic.
10. The computer readable medium of claim 7, further comprising power save logic configured to, in response to determining that the relative volume of exchanged traffic has changed with regard to the predetermined threshold, terminate scanning of the at least one channel for potential interference.
11. The computer readable medium of claim 7, wherein the communications device is configured to communicate data in an IEEE 802.11n protocol.
12. The computer readable medium of claim 7, wherein the communications device is configured to support at least one 40 MHz channel in a 2.4 GHz frequency band.
13. A system, comprising:
means for entering a standby mode, wherein in the standby mode, at least one component of a communications device is shutdown, and wherein in the standby mode, at least one channel is scanned to determine potential interference;
means for monitoring exchanged traffic with the communications device;
means for determining a relative volume of the exchanged traffic, compared to a predetermined threshold;
means for, based on the determination of the relative volume of the exchanged traffic and the predetermined threshold, entering a power save standby mode,
wherein in the power save standby mode, scanning of the at least one channel is terminated; and
means for monitoring, in the power save standby mode, the exchanged traffic to determine whether the relative volume of exchanged traffic has changed with regard to the predetermined threshold.
14. The system of claim 13, wherein the monitoring means is configured to monitor transmitted traffic and received unicast traffic.
15. The system of claim 13, further comprising means for, in response to determining that the relative volume of exchanged traffic has changed with regard to the predetermined threshold, resuming the scanning of the at least one channel.
16. The system of claim 13, wherein the communications device is configured to communicate data in an IEEE 802.11n protocol.
17. The system of claim 13, wherein the communications device is configured to support at least one 40 MHz channel in a 2.4 GHz frequency band.
18. The system of claim 13, wherein the means for monitoring is configured to exclude received broadcast and multicast traffic.
19. A system, comprising:
a first entering component configured to enter a standby mode, wherein in the standby mode, at least one component of a communications device is shutdown, and wherein in the standby mode, at least one channel is scanned to determine potential interference;
a first monitoring component configured to monitor exchanged traffic with the communications device;
a determining component configured to determine a relative volume of the exchanged traffic, compared to a predetermined threshold;
a second entering component configured to, based on the determination of the relative volume of the exchanged traffic and the predetermined threshold, enter a power save standby mode,
wherein in the power save standby mode, scanning of the at least one channel is terminated; and
a second monitoring component configured to monitor, in the power save standby mode, the exchanged traffic to determine whether the relative volume of exchanged traffic has changed with regard to the predetermined threshold.
20. The system of claim 19, further comprising:
a resuming component configured to, in response to determining that the relative volume of exchanged traffic has changed with regard to the predetermined threshold, resume the scanning of the at least one channel.