Patent · US Expired

Method and circuit for testing a semiconductor memory device operating at high frequency

US5933379A · kind A · utility

65Cited by
3References
8Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateMar 30, 1998
Grant dateAug 3, 1999
Priority date
Expiry dateMar 30, 2018

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC G)Physics
  • CPC primaryG11C11/401
  • WIPO fieldComputer technology
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

A circuit for testing a semiconductor memory device comprises a latency controller for controlling the latency of the external clock signal, an internal column address generator for generating a column address signal in the memory device, and a mode register for generating a mode signal. The circuit for testing semiconductor memory devices also includes a column address decoder for decoding the output address signal of the internal column address generator, a memory cell for reading or writing data, an input/output control unit for controlling the data input/output of the memory cell according to the output signal of the latency controller, a data input buffer, and a data output buffer. Further provided are a frequency multiplier for generating an internal clock signal having a frequency "n" times the frequency of the external clock signal. By providing the above-mentioned improvements, the conventional test equipment can be used to test high frequency memory devices.

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