Integrated circuit tester with real time branching
US6154715A · kind A · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Jan 15, 1999 |
| Grant date | Nov 28, 2000 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Jan 15, 2019 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC G)Physics
- CPC primaryG01R31/31922
- WIPO fieldMeasurement
- WIPO sectorInstruments
Abstract
An integrated circuit (IC) tester includes a set of digital and analog channels, each of which may be programmed to carry out a sequence of test activities at pins of an IC under test. The channels are interconnected by a trigger bus, and each channel may be programmed to respond to a detected event during a test by transmitting a particular trigger code to every other channel via the trigger bus. Each channel may be also programmed to respond to a particular trigger code arriving on the trigger bus by branching its sequence of test activities. Thus any channel detecting an event during a test can signal all other channels to immediately terminate a current sequence of test activities and branch to another set of test activities. Such a conditional branch capability enables the tester to automatically perform an "if/then" diagnostic test on an IC in which a test result detected at any point during the test determines the future course of the test.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.