Measurement of electrical and mechanical characteristics of low-K dielectric in a semiconductor device

An apparatus comprising a test structure that:

• applies a mechanical force that gradually increases with time to a specified region of an unpackaged semiconductor wafer, the mechanical force including a pulling force that pulls in a direction away from the unpackaged semiconductor wafer to induce an incipient cracking or delamination defect within the specified region;
• measures a sudden variation of an electrical parameter of the region in response to the mechanical force;
• determines an occurrence of the incipient cracking or delamination defect within the region based on the sudden variation of the electrical parameter;
• and
• records a value of the mechanical force that corresponds with the sudden variation.

A method, comprising:

• applying a mechanical force to a plurality of internal layers of an unpackaged semiconductor wafer to induce an incipient cracking or delamination defect within the plurality of internal layers;
• measuring an electrical parameter of the plurality of internal layers while the force is applied;
• and
• characterizing the plurality of internal layers based on the measuring;
• wherein the characterizing includes:
• determining an occurrence of the incipient cracking or delamination defect within the plurality of internal layers based on a change of a measured value of the electric parameter;
• and
• recording an amount of force applied at the occurrence of the defect.