Patent · US Expired

Charge-based frequency measurement bist

US6885700B1 · kind B1 · utility

12Cited by
7References
17Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateSep 25, 2000
Grant dateApr 26, 2005
Priority date—
Expiry dateSep 3, 2022

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
  • CPC primaryH03L7/18
  • WIPO fieldMeasurement
  • WIPO sectorInstruments

Abstract

A charge-based frequency measurement BIST (CF-BIST) for clock circuits and oscillator circuits is described that requires no outside test stimulus and produces a digital test output. The CF-BIST technique performs structural and defect-oriented testing and uses existing blocks to save die area. The technique adds a multiplexer to the non-sensitive digital path. The system uses the existing VCO as the measuring device and divide-by-N as a frequency counter to reduce the area overhead. The described technique produces an efficient pass/fail evaluation, low-cost and practical implementation of on-chip BIST structure.

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