Patent · US Expired

Testing integrated circuits by consolidating a plurality of digital signals as a multilevel signal

US5541505A · kind A · utility

6Cited by
4References
21Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventor

Key dates

Filing dateSep 14, 1993
Grant dateJul 30, 1996
Priority date
Expiry dateSep 14, 2013

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC G)Physics
  • CPC primaryG06F11/2273
  • WIPO fieldMeasurement
  • WIPO sectorInstruments

Abstract

An apparatus for testing a semiconductor integrated circuit includes a plurality of probe lines and a plurality of sense lines which intersect each other to thereby define a plurality of intersections thereby as electrically isolated from each other. An electronic switch device is provided for each intersection for producing a multilevel signal, on an associated sense line, having one of a predetermined number of voltage levels corresponding to various combinations definable by a predetermined number of binary numbers supplied to test points from logic elements to be tested. In a four test point embodiment, four test points are arranged such that each test point is located in a corresponding one of four quadrants defined by a pair of probe and sense lines intersecting each other. Preferably, the integrated circuit is in the form of a gate array.

Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.