Allocating manufactured devices according to customer specifications

A method of sorting and using manufactured devices, said method comprising:

• determining customer specifications for different versions of at least one computing device, said customer specifications comprising performance requirements for an integrated circuit device to be incorporated into each of said different versions;
• manufacturing integrated circuit devices according to an identical design;
• performing empirical testing on an initial group of said integrated circuit devices to determine an initial representative distribution of different performance characteristics that can be expected from an average production run of said integrated circuit devices, said empirical testing comprising testing said initial group in different operating environments to establish correlations between said different performance characteristics and said different operating environments;
• based on said customer specifications and on said correlations, establishing sorting cutoffs for sorting said integrated circuit devices into different groups;
• removing defective integrated circuit devices from said integrated circuit devices to leave non-defective integrated circuit devices;
• evaluating performance characteristics of said non-defective integrated circuit devices;
• sorting said non-defective integrated circuit devices into said different groups according to said evaluated performance characteristics and said sorting cutoffs;
• and
• utilizing said different groups of said non-defective integrated circuit devices in said different computing devices and in said different versions depending upon said customer specifications.

A system of sorting and using manufactured devices, said system comprising:

• a tester adapted to evaluate performance characteristics of manufactured integrated circuit devices and remove defective integrated circuit devices to leave non-defective integrated circuit devices, wherein all of said non-defective integrated circuit devices are manufactured using an identical design, and wherein differences in said performance characteristics among said non-defective integrated circuit devices occurs because of processing variations including manufacturing line variations;
• a softer adapted to sort said non-defective integrated circuit devices into different groups according to said evaluated performance characteristics and previously established sorting cutoffs, said previously established sorting cutoffs being based on customer specifications and on previously established correlations between different performance characteristics and different operating environments;
• and
• a director adapted to direct said different groups of said non-defective integrated circuit devices to be used in manufacturing different types of computing devices, said different types of computing devices comprising at least two of a personal computer, a mainframe computer, a portable digital assistance (PDA), a cell phone, an automobile, an appliance, a calculator, and a video game console, and further in different versions of each of said different types of computing devices depending upon individual operating requirements of each of said different versions of said different types of computing devices, as established by customer specifications.

A system for sorting and using manufactured devices, said system comprising:

• means for removing defective integrated circuit devices from a group of manufactured integrated circuit devices to leave non-defective integrated circuit devices;
• means for evaluating performance characteristics of said non-defective integrated circuit devices, wherein all of said non-defective integrated circuit devices are manufactured using an identical design, and wherein differences in said performance characteristics among said non-defective integrated circuit devices occurs because of processing variations including manufacturing line variations;
• means for sorting said non-defective integrated circuit devices into different groups according to said evaluated performance characteristics and previously established sorting cutoffs, said previously established sorting cutoffs being based on customer specifications and on previously established correlations between different performance characteristics and different operating environments;
• and
• means for utilizing said different groups of said non-defective integrated circuit devices in different types of computing devices, said different types of computing devices comprising any two of a personal computer, a mainframe computer, a portable digital assistant (PDA), a cell phone, a video game system, and a calculator, and further in different versions of each of said different types of computing devices depending upon individual operating requirements of said different versions of said different types of computing devices, as established by customer specifications.