Circuit arrangement for leakage-resistance testing of a circuit point

US5640095A · kind A · utility

Assignees

• U.S. Philips Corporation · US
• Siemens Aktiengesellschaft · DE

Inventors

• Ralf Beier · Dublin, IE
• Axel Nathe · Hamburg, DE
• Marten Swart · Obertraubling, DE
• Horst Belau · Bad Abbach, DE

Key dates

• Filing date: Jun 16, 1995
• Grant date: Jun 17, 1997
• Expiry date: Jun 16, 2015

Classification

• Technology area (CPC G): Physics
• CPC primary: G01R31/52
• WIPO field: Measurement
• WIPO sector: Instruments

Abstract

A circuit for testing the leakage resistance of a circuit point. Particularly in the case of circuits where safety is important, a circuit point, particularly an output terminal of an integrated circuit, should be tested for a leakage resistance relative to ground and/or a voltage to provide an early detection of an imminent failure condition. To this end, at least one test current is fed into the circuit point and the voltage at the circuit point is monitored by means of a comparator. When the leakage resistance decreases below a permissible value the voltage at the circuit point decreases, which can be detected by the comparator. For monitoring a leakage resistance relative to both poles two opposite test currents are applied and the comparator is constructed as a window comparator.