Abstract: A semiconductor device has test-only contacts to reduce the size of the device and eliminate unnecessary external contacts. In one form of the invention, a semiconductor device (30) is provided with solder balls (26) which are electrically coupled to those portions of a semiconductor die (20) that are necessary for device operation. The device also includes test pads (32) formed on a package substrate (12) which are electrically coupled to those portions of the die which are necessary only for a manufacturer's testing purposes. In another form, a semiconductor device (10) includes external test-only solder balls along the periphery of the package substrate, for example solder balls between boundaries A and B. After testing is complete, the package substrate is excised along boundary A, thereby eliminating solder balls which are not needed by the device user. A combination of the two techniques may also be used.

Abstract: A semiconductor device (10) includes test-only leads (20) and operational leads (18). Operational leads (18) provide access to portions of a semiconductor die (12) needed for device operation. Test-only leads (20) provide access to portions of die (12) which are not needed for device operation, but which are needed during manufacturing tests. Operational leads (18) have an external configuration which facilitates attachment to a user substrate. Test-only leads (20) have an external configuration which enables electrical access to the device for test purposes; however, the test-only lead configuration makes attachment to the user substrate difficult. Since the test-only leads (20) and the operational leads (18) have two different external lead configurations, overall lead pitch is reduced, enabling device (10) to be made very small. Yet, complexity of mounting device (10) to a user substrate is not increased since the pitch between adjacent operational leads (18) can be made larger than the overall lead pitch.