The present invention discloses novel methods to transfer data between a
plurality of integrated circuit dice on a semiconductor wafer. Each
individual die contains internal circuits to control data transfer to
nearby dice. Wafer level data transfer is achieved by a series of
inter-dice data transfers. It is therefore possible to use a small number
of small area metal lines to support wafer level parallel processing
activities. External connections are provided by a small number of bonding
pads on each wafer. The load on each external bounding pad is by far lower
than that of prior art wafer level connections. These inter-dice data
transfer mechanism also can be programmed to avoid defective circuitry.
This invention has been used to support wafer level functional tests and
wafer level burn-in tests. A Testing system of the present invention can
test thousands of dice in parallel using simple testing equipment. Testing
costs for integrated circuits are therefore reduced dramatically. The
present application also make it possible to build large area IC
containing multiple dice. Extremely powerful products are realized using
parallel processing capability of such multiple die integrated circuits.