In accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, a semiconductor
wafer has a plurality of dies each having a circuit and a plurality of
contact pads. The plurality of contact pads include a first contact pad
to receive a power supply voltage, a second contact pad to receive a
ground voltage, and a third contact pad to receive a test control signal.
The third contact pad is connected to a programmable self-test engine
(PSTE) embedded on the corresponding die so that the test control signal
activates the PSTE to initiate a self-test. A probe card has a plurality
of sets of probe pins, each set of probe pins having three probe pins for
contacting the first, second, and third contact pads of one of a
corresponding number of the plurality of dies. During wafer test, the
plurality of sets of probe pins come in contact with a corresponding
number of dies so that the self-test is carried out simultaneously in the
corresponding number of dies.