Thermal test chip with stackable metal based heater and sensor

A method of fabricating an electronic device, the method comprising:

• forming a first metallization level of a multilevel metallization structure above a semiconductor layer, the first metallization level including one or more first heater resistors;
• forming a second metallization level of the multilevel metallization structure above the first metallization level, the second metallization level including one or more second heater resistors, and one of the first and second metallization levels including one or more first sense resistors;
• electrically coupling the one or more first and second heater resistors and the one or more first sense resistors to conductive leads;
• and
• enclosing the first and second metallization levels, the semiconductor layer, and portions of the conductive leads in a package structure, wherein all of the one or more first sense resistors are encircled by the one or more first heater resistors or the one or more second heater resistors.

A system, comprising:

• a circuit board;
• an electronic device, including:
• a package structure;
• conductive leads partially exposed from the package structure and connected to conductive terminals of the circuit board;
• and
• a semiconductor die having a semiconductor layer and a multilevel metallization structure, the semiconductor die enclosed by the package structure, the multilevel metallization structure including an array of unit regions arranged in rows along a first direction and columns along an orthogonal second direction, each unit region including a first heater resistor and a first sense resistor, and conductive metal features electrically coupled to respective terminals of the first heater resistor and the first sense resistor, the conductive metal features electrically coupled to respective ones of the conductive leads, wherein all of the first sense resistors are encircled by the first heater resistors;
• a power circuit configured to provide current to activate selected ones of the first heater resistors;
• a sensing circuit configured to sense a signal of selected ones of the first sense resistors;
• and
• a switching circuit coupled to the circuit board, the power circuit, and the sensing circuit, the switching circuit configured to selectively couple the power circuit to the selected ones of the first heater resistors and to selectively couple the sensing circuit to the selected ones of the first sense resistors.

A method, comprising:

• connecting conductive leads of an electronic device to conductive terminals of a circuit board;
• selectively coupling a power circuit to one or more first heater resistors in a multilevel metallization structure of a semiconductor die of the electronic device to provide current to activate the one or more first heater resistors;
• and
• selectively coupling a sensing circuit to one or more first sense resistors in the multilevel metallization structure to sense a temperature of the electronic device, wherein all of the one or more first sense resistors are encircled by the one or more first heater resistors.