Conventionally, automated test equipment (“ATE”) is coupled to a temperature forcing unit. A thermocouple is attached to an outer surface of encapsulation material used to package an integrated circuit die to form the microchip, and is attached to the temperature forcing unit. A technician then manually adjusts temperature of the temperature forcing unit. The temperature forcing unit may be set to force air at any temperature within a range of temperatures. A target temperature is known as the “set point.” The amount of time allotted to allow the microchip to reach thermal stability is known as the “soak time.” Once set point and soak time are set, airflow is flowed from a temperature forcing unit over the microchip. The thermocouple attached to the microchip is used to provide temperature feedback information to temperature forcing unit. Conventionally, several adjustments of the temperature forcing unit are made in order to obtain a target temperature for purposes of testing the microchip under thermal stress. Additionally, the type of thermocouple may be specified as part of the setup procedure.
Accordingly, this type of thermal conditioning provides a temperature of the material encapsulating the microchip, which given sufficient time is assumed to conduct throughout the microchip. However, when thermally stressing an integrated circuit, it would be desirable to know the temperature at the p-n junctions of the semiconductor material used to form the die (“junction temperature”), and not just the temperature of the encapsulation material. In other words, it would be more precise to know the temperature of the die itself. This would provide a more precise thermal understanding of thermal budget. Furthermore, it would be desirable if the amount of technician intervention could be reduced in order to further automate the process.