Patent application number | Description | Published |
20100176890 | System and Method for Characterizing Process Variations - A system and method for characterizing process variations are provided. A circuit comprises a plurality of inverters arranged in a sequential loop, and a plurality of transmission gates, with each transmission gate coupled between a pair of serially arranged inverters. Each transmission gate comprises a first field effect transistor (FET) having a first channel, and a second FET having a second channel. The first channel and the second channel are coupled in parallel and a gate terminal of the first FET and a gate terminal of the second FET are coupled to a first control signal and a second control signal, respectively. | 07-15-2010 |
20100244853 | Method and Apparatus for Diagnosing an Integrated Circuit - System and method for diagnosing failures within an integrated circuit is provided. In an embodiment, the apparatus includes a diagnostic cell coupled in series with a buffer chain. The diagnostic cell includes a plurality of logic operators that when activated invert a signal received from the buffer chain. The inversion of the signal from the buffer chain allows the diagnostic cell to determine the location of a failure within an integrated circuit previously determined by a scan chain design for test methodology to contain a failure. | 09-30-2010 |
20110038451 | ULTRA HIGH RESOLUTION TIMING MEASUREMENT - An integrated circuit for high-resolution timing measurement includes a delay pulse generator, the first oscillator to generate the first clock with the first frequency, the second oscillator to generate the second clock with the second frequency, an oscillator tuner, a sampling module, a counter, wherein the delay pulse generator generated a delayed pulse from the second clock, the oscillator tuner controls the second frequency to be as close as possible to the first frequency without being the same as the second frequency, the sampling module samples the delayed pulse at the first frequency, the counter generates a digital counter value by counting a number of sampling by the sampling module, and a time width of the delayed pulse can be calculated by the digital counter value. The second oscillator can be a tunable ring oscillator with one or more coarse tune stages and one or more fine-tune stages. | 02-17-2011 |
20110121856 | System and Method for Detecting Soft-Fails - A system and method for detecting soft-failures in integrated circuits is provided. A circuit includes a combinatorial logic block having a first signal input and a second signal input, and a latch coupled to an output of the combinatorial logic block. The combinatorial logic block produces a pulse when only one of either a first signal provided by the first signal input or a second signal provided by the second signal input is a logical high value, and the latch captures the pulse if the pulse has a pulse width greater than a second threshold. The pulse has a pulse width that is based on a timing difference between a first signal transition on the first signal and a second signal transition on the second signal, the combinatorial logic block produces the pulse if the timing difference is greater than a first threshold, and the combinatorial logic block operates with balanced inputs. | 05-26-2011 |
20110273967 | ULTRA HIGH RESOLUTION TIMING MEASUREMENT - A method for high-resolution timing measurement includes a first oscillator generating a first clock with a first frequency. A second oscillator generates a second clock with a second frequency. A delay pulse generator generates a delayed pulse from the second clock. An oscillator tuner controls the second frequency to be as close as possible to the first frequency without being the same as the first frequency. A sampling module samples the delayed pulse at the first frequency. A counter generates a digital counter value by counting a number of samples made by the sampling module. | 11-10-2011 |
20110303984 | Quadrangle MOS Transistors - A quadrangle transistor unit includes four transistor units. Each of the four transistor units includes a gate electrode. The gate electrodes of the four transistor units are aligned to four sides of a square. At least two of the four transistor units are connected in parallel. | 12-15-2011 |
20120038388 | RC Delay Detectors with High Sensitivity for Through Substrate Vias - A die includes a plurality of through-substrate vias (TSVs) penetrating a substrate of the die, wherein the plurality of TSVs are grouped as a plurality of TSV pairs. A plurality of contact pads is coupled to the plurality of TSVs, wherein the plurality of contact pads is exposed on a first surface of the die. The die further includes a plurality of balanced pulse comparison units, wherein each of the plurality of balanced pulse comparison units includes a first input and a second input coupled to a first TSV and a second TSV of one of the plurality of TSV pairs. The die further includes a plurality of pulse latches, each including an input coupled to an output of one of the plurality of balanced pulse comparison units. | 02-16-2012 |
20120112763 | Method for Detecting Small Delay Defects - System and method for effectively detecting small delay defects is disclosed. The method first loads layout information of an integrated circuit. Then, the nets and paths of the integrated circuit are partitioned into two groups based upon their physical information. The physical information comprises the length of each path and net and the number of vias at each path and net. A timing-aware automatic test pattern generator is configured to generate test patterns for the first group having paths and nets susceptible to small delay defects. A traditional transition delay fault test pattern generator is configured to generate test patterns for the second group. | 05-10-2012 |
20120273782 | INTERPOSERS OF 3-DIMENSIONAL INTEGRATED CIRCUIT PACKAGE SYSTEMS AND METHODS OF DESIGNING THE SAME - An interposer of a package system includes a first probe pad disposed adjacent to a first surface of the interposer. A second probe pad is disposed adjacent to the first surface of the interposer. A first bump of a first dimension is disposed adjacent to the first surface of the interposer. The first bump is electrically coupled with the first probe pad. A second bump of the first dimension is disposed adjacent to the first surface of the interposer. The second bump is electrically coupled with the second probe pad. The second bump is electrically coupled with the first bump through a redistribution layer (RDL) of the interposer. | 11-01-2012 |
20130047049 | BUILT-IN SELF-TEST FOR INTERPOSER - A device includes a first die coupled to an interconnect structure of an interposer. The first die includes a first BIST circuit configured to generate and output test signals to the interconnection structure of the interposer. A second die is coupled to the interconnect structure of the interposer and includes a second BIST circuit configured to receive signals from the interconnection structure of the interposer in response to the first BIST circuit transmitting the test signals. The second BIST circuit is configured to compare the signals received from the interconnection structure of the interposer to reference signals generated by the second BIST circuit. | 02-21-2013 |
20130127441 | APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR ON-CHIP SAMPLING OF DYNAMIC IR VOLTAGE DROP - Test points on an integrated circuit chip, especially points subject to IR voltage drop along power supply rails, are coupled to comparators controlled by an automatic test controller, all included on the chip. Each test point can have one or more comparators and one or more reference voltages over a testing range. A change of state at a comparator sets a latch that is read and reset by the on-chip automatic test controller during test intervals. The automatic test controller can coordinate with external automatic test equipment that applies stimulus signals to the chip during testing. The greatest voltage drop during a test interval is determined from the latched output of the switched comparator coupled to the lowest reference voltage. The setting and resetting of the latch can be gated through a selectable delay so as to discriminate for excursions that persist for a longer or shorter time. | 05-23-2013 |
20130147505 | TEST PROBING STRUCTURE - A testing probe structure for wafer level testing semiconductor IC packaged devices under test (DUT). The structure includes a substrate, through substrate vias, a bump array formed on a first surface of the substrate for engaging a probe card, and at least one probing unit on a second surface of the substrate. The probing unit includes a conductive probe pad formed on one surface of the substrate and at least one microbump interconnected to the pad. The pads are electrically coupled to the bump array through the vias. Some embodiments include a plurality of microbumps associated with the pad which are configured to engage a mating array of microbumps on the DUT. In some embodiments, the DUT may be probed by applying test signals from a probe card through the bump and microbump arrays without direct probing of the DUT microbumps. | 06-13-2013 |
20130193981 | SWITCHED CAPACITOR COMPARATOR CIRCUIT - A circuit including a first switch receiving an input reference voltage, a second switch receiving an input testing voltage, the first switch and the second switch are electrically connected in parallel. The circuit further includes a first capacitor electrically connected in series with the first switch and the second switch. The circuit further includes a feedback stage comprising a feedback inverter electrically connected in parallel with a feedback switch, where the feedback stage is electrically connected in series with the first capacitor. The circuit further includes a first inverter electrically connected in series to the feedback stage, and a third switch electrically connected in series with the first inverter. The circuit further includes a second inverter electrically connected in parallel to a third inverter, the second inverter and the third inverter are electrically connected in series to the third switch, and the third inverter outputs a first output signal. | 08-01-2013 |
20130257564 | POWER LINE FILTER FOR MULTIDIMENSIONAL INTEGRATED CIRCUITS - An interposer element in a multidimensional integrated circuit with stacked elements has one or more conductors, especially power supply lines, coupled through decoupling networks defining low impedance shunts for high frequency signals to ground. The interposer has successive tiers including silicon, metal and dielectric deposition layers. The decoupling network for a conductor has at least one and preferably two reactive transmission lines. A transmission line has an inductor in series with the conductor and parallel capacitances at the inductor terminals. The inductors are formed by traces in spaced metal deposition layers forming coil windings and through vias connecting between layers to permit conductor crossovers. The capacitances are formed by MOScaps in the interposer layers. An embodiment has serially coupled coils with capacitances at the input, output and junction between the coils, wherein the coils are magnetically coupled to form a transformer. | 10-03-2013 |
20130305112 | Method and Apparatus for Diagnosing an Integrated Circuit - System and method for diagnosing failures within an integrated circuit is provided. In an embodiment, the apparatus includes a diagnostic cell coupled in series with a buffer chain. The diagnostic cell includes a plurality of logic operators that when activated invert a signal received from the buffer chain. The inversion of the signal from the buffer chain allows the diagnostic cell to determine the location of a failure within an integrated circuit previously determined by a scan chain design for test methodology to contain a failure. | 11-14-2013 |
20140075404 | GROUP BOUNDING BOX REGION-CONSTRAINED PLACEMENT FOR INTEGRATED CIRCUIT DESIGN - Among other things, one or more systems and techniques for defining a group bounding box for related cells of an integrated circuit, and generating a new layout for the integrated circuit comprising the group bounding box are provided herein. That is, one or more group bounding boxes are defined based upon positional values of related cells. Such group bounding boxes are placed within the new layout based upon a placement technique, such as an objective function that takes into account wire length, timing, and cell density, for example. The one or more group bounding boxes are sized or reshaped to reduce cell overlap within the new layout. In this way, the new layout comprises related cells, bound by one or more group bounding boxes, that are placed within the new layout according to a configuration that mitigates wire length and timing delay of the integrated circuit. | 03-13-2014 |
20140082575 | METHOD FOR PLACING DECOUPLING CAPACITORS - A method comprises selecting a region from a layout pattern of an integrated circuit, wherein the region comprises a plurality of functional units, and wherein the functional units are not coupled to each other through a variety of connection components, identifying hot spots in the region using a first threshold and inserting a plurality of decoupling capacitors adjacent to the hot spots. | 03-20-2014 |
20140239427 | Integrated Antenna on Interposer Substrate - Some embodiments relate to a semiconductor module comprising a low-cost integrated antenna that uses a conductive backside structure in conjunction with a ground metal layer to form a large ground plane with a small silicon area. In some embodiments, the integrated antenna structure has an excitable element that radiates electromagnetic radiation. An on-chip ground plane, located on a first side of an interposer substrate, is positioned below the excitable element. A compensation ground plane, located on an opposing side of the interposer substrate, is connected to the ground plane by one or more through-silicon vias (TSVs) that extend through the interposer substrate. The on-chip ground plane and the compensation ground collectively act to reflect the electromagnetic radiation generated by the excitable element, so that the compensation ground improves the performance of the on-chip ground plane. | 08-28-2014 |
20140282305 | COMMON TEMPLATE FOR ELECTRONIC ARTICLE - One or more techniques or systems for incorporating a common template into a system on chip (SOC) design are provided herein. For example, a common template mask set is generated based on a first set of polygon positions from a first vendor and a second set of polygon positions from a second vendor. A third party creates a third party SOC design using a set of design rules generated based on the common template mask set. The common template is fabricated based on the third party SOC design using the common template mask set. Because the common template is formed using the common template mask set and because the common template mask set is based on polygon positions from both the first vendor and the second vendor, a part can be connected to the SOC regardless of whether the part is sourced from the first vendor or the second vendor. | 09-18-2014 |