Method and apparatus for inducing locally elevated temperatures in an application specific integrated circuit
US6486450B1 · kind B1 · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Sep 14, 2000 |
| Grant date | Nov 26, 2002 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Sep 14, 2020 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC G)Physics
- CPC primaryG01R31/2877
- WIPO fieldMeasurement
- WIPO sectorInstruments
Abstract
An application specific integrated circuit includes a multiplicity of operative circuit blocks. Disposed in at least one of the blocks is a multiplicity of selectively operative heater modules for providing localised heating within the block. The heater modules may comprise cyclic redundancy code generators each coupled to respond to a system clock, and each heater module may include a system clock divider providing a multiplicity of differently divided clock signals and means for selecting a clock signal for use by the module. The invention is useful in design variable testing to produce variation with temperature of the frequency of an intermittent timing error.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.