Abstract: A method and a device implementing the method are disclosed for testing electrical conductor elements in the manufacture of integrated circuit devices. The method is based on determining nonlinearity of electrical resistance, a quantity which was found to be closely related to reliability of conductor elements. The method calls for applying a repetitive train of pulses to an AC-coupled linear network across whose output terminals the element being tested is placed. The resulting average current through or voltage across the element provides a measure of nonlinearity of resistance.