Invalidity dossier
US 6031985
Method, apparatus and system for analyzing failure of measured device
Current assignee: Mitsubishi Electric Corp
Added 9/23/2026, 9:59:39 PM
Active provider: DeepSeek · deepseek-flash
Patent summary
Title, assignee, inventors, filing/issue dates, abstract, and a plain-language overview of the claims.
Patent Overview — US6031985A
Title: Method, apparatus and system for analyzing failure of measured device
Patent number: US6031985A | Application number: US08/778,274
Inventor: Eiji Yoshida | Original/current assignee: Mitsubishi Electric Corp (assignment to MITSUBISHI DENKI KABUSHIKI KAISHA recorded 1998-08-19)
Key dates: Priority date 1996-08-21; filing date 1997-01-02; granted/publication date 2000-02-29; anticipated expiration 2017-01-02. Status: Expired – Fee Related.
Purpose: To rapidly specify, with high precision, the failed portion of a measured device (a semiconductor device) using an emission analyzing apparatus that detects faint light emitted from minute current-leakage portions during operation, reducing reliance on designer-dependent manual analysis. The stated motivation is that increasingly large-scale and complex semiconductor devices make failure analysis harder.
Plain-language scope (from the summarized aspects):
- A method that sets a two-dimensional origin on the device, captures an emission image during operation, and derives the emitting portion's coordinates from its positional relationship to that origin.
- Extensions of that method to recognize and visually display the emitting position on a device layout pattern; to identify a corresponding emitting node on a net list using layout-pattern/net-list correspondence information; and to display the emitting node on a circuit diagram, either via net-list/circuit-diagram correspondence or directly via layout-pattern/circuit-diagram correspondence.
- An apparatus housing electron-beam testing means and emitting-portion detecting means so both operate on the same device under the same environment.
- A networked failure-analyzing system of multiple apparatuses, including at least one emission-image apparatus, with a shared failure-analyzing program.
Source: https://patents.google.com/patent/[US6031985](/patent/US6031985)/en
What the excerpt does not establish: It contains no claims text, no detailed description of embodiments, no drawings content, and no prior-art references. It does not establish claim scope, prosecution history, or whether the "aspects" correspond exactly to issued claims. Classifications and legal-status entries are expressly assumptions per the source.
Generated 10/1/2026, 9:33:53 PM
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Assignment history
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Prior art
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Obviousness
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Extensions
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Derivative works
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