G01R31/31727

METHOD AND CIRCUIT FOR SIMPLE MEASUREMENT OF THE PHASE SHIFT BETWEEN TWO DIGITAL CLOCK SIGNALS HAVING THE SAME FREQUENCY
20220381822 · 2022-12-01 ·

A method for simple measurement of phase shift between a first clock signal and a second clock signal is described, each clock signal having a period T.sub.0. The method includes: feeding the first clock signal into a first input of a mixer; feeding the second clock signal into a second input of the mixer; feeding the output signal of the mixer into a low pass filter; and measuring the output signal of the low pass filter, with the aid of an output voltage that is normalized to operating voltage of the mixer. A circuit for implementing the method includes a mixer and a low pass filter. The mixer includes a first input for feeding in the first clock signal, and a second input for feeding in the second clock signal. The output of the mixer is connected to the input of the low pass filter.

TEST ELEMENT GROUP AND TEST METHOD

A test element group (TEG) disposed adjacent to at least one memory chip on a wafer includes a ring oscillator configured to output a clock signal based on a direct current (DC) signal received through a first pad and from a test device, a first divider configured to divide the clock signal and to output a first divided signal, and a sequential circuit set configured to receive the clock signal and the first divided signal, to generate a test signal based on the clock signal and the first divided signal, and to output the test signal to the test device through a second pad. The sequential circuit set includes a sequential circuit having a configuration corresponding to at least one circuit included in the at least one die.

Monitoring device, motor driving apparatus, and monitoring method
11595138 · 2023-02-28 · ·

A monitoring device includes: an acquisition unit for acquiring a clock signal output from a communication circuit that outputs the clock signal; and a monitoring unit for analyzing the waveform of the clock signal acquired by the acquisition unit, based on a predetermined reference clock signal having a period equal to or shorter than a period of the clock signal to thereby determine whether or not there is a sign of malfunction in the communication circuit.

REDUCED SIGNALING INTERFACE METHOD & APPARATUS
20230058458 · 2023-02-23 ·

This disclosure describes a reduced pin bus that can be used on integrated circuits or embedded cores within integrated circuits. The bus may be used for serial access to circuits where the availability of pins on ICs or terminals on cores is limited. The bus may be used for a variety of serial communication operations such as, but not limited to, serial communication related test, emulation, debug, and/or trace operations of an IC or core design. Other aspects of the disclosure include the use of reduced pin buses for emulation, debug, and trace operations and for functional operations.

SELF-CONTAINED BUILT-IN SELF-TEST CIRCUIT WITH PHASE-SHIFTING ABILITIES FOR HIGH-SPEED RECEIVERS

Aspects of the invention include a phase rotator, that is located at a built-in self-test (BIST) path of a receiver, receiving a clock signal from an on-chip clock. The phase rotator shifts the phases of the clock signal. The phase rotator transmits the shifted clock signal to a binary sequence generator, that is located at the receiver. The binary sequence generator outputs a binary sequence, where the binary sequence generator is driven by the shifted clock signal.

At-speed test access port operations
11585852 · 2023-02-21 · ·

In some examples, an integrated circuit comprises: a TDI input, a TDO output, a TCK input and a TMS input; a TAP state machine (TSM) having an input coupled to the TCK input, an input coupled to the TMS input, an instruction register control output, a TSM data register control (DRC) output, and a TSM state output; an instruction register having an input coupled to the TDI input, an output coupled to the TDO output, and a control input coupled to the instruction register control output of the TAP state machine; router circuitry including a TSM DRC input coupled to the TSM DRC output, a control DRC input coupled to the TSM state output, and a router DRC output; and a data register having an input coupled to the TDI input, an output coupled to the TDO output, and a data register DRC input coupled to the router DRC output.

MEASUREMENT APPARATUS AND MEASUREMENT METHOD
20220365553 · 2022-11-17 ·

A measurement apparatus comprising: a clock generator configured to generate a sampling clock having a longer sampling cycle than a symbol cycle in a pattern under test including a symbol with a predefined number of symbols; a sampler configured to sample, according to the sampling clock, the pattern under test that is repeatedly inputted; and a measuring section configured to measure a sampling result of the sampler according to the sampling clock of a time point corresponding to a symbol transition that becomes subject to jitter measurements in the pattern under test that is repeatedly inputted.

Runtime measurement of process variations and supply voltage characteristics

Circuits and methods involve an integrated circuit (IC) device, a plurality of application-specific sub-circuits, and a plurality of instances of a measuring circuit. The application-specific sub-circuits are disposed within respective areas of the IC device. Each instance of the measuring circuit is associated with one of the application-specific sub-circuits and is disposed within a respective one of the areas of the device. Each instance of the measuring circuit further includes a ring oscillator and a register for storage of a value indicative of an interval of time. Each instance of the measuring circuit is configured to measure passage of the interval of time based on a first clock signal, count oscillations of an output signal of the ring oscillator during the interval of time, and output a value indicating a number of oscillations counted during the interval of time.

Low power flip-flop
11575366 · 2023-02-07 · ·

A low power flip-flop includes first to fourth signal generation circuits and an inverter. The first signal generation circuit receives the clock signal, the data input signal, and a first internal signal that is an output of the second signal generation circuit and generates a second internal signal. The inverter receives the first internal signal and generates an inverted first internal signal. The second signal generation circuit receives the first internal signal and the output signal that is an output of the third signal generation circuit, and generates the inverted output signal. The third signal generation circuit receives the clock signal and the inverted output signal and generates the output signal. The fourth signal generation circuit receives the inverted first internal signal, the second internal signal, and the clock signal and generates the first internal signal.

SEMICONDUCTOR INTEGRATED CIRCUIT, A METHOD FOR TESTING THE SEMICONDUCTOR INTEGRATED CIRCUIT, AND A SEMICONDUCTOR SYSTEM
20230096746 · 2023-03-30 ·

A semiconductor integrated circuit to receive a test scan input, a test clock, and a test mode signal and output a secure scan output signal, the integrated circuit including: a secure key circuit to generate delay input signals, which are differently delayed from the test scan input, and to generate an input key signal by capturing the delay input signals in response to the test clock; a key comparator to generate a verification result indicating whether an input key of the input key signal is identical with a preset reference key; a chip to generate a scan output signal based on the test scan input; a scan output remapper to obfuscate the scan output signal according to the verification result and to output the obfuscated scan output signal as the secure scan output signal; and a secure scan controller to control the secure key circuit, key comparator, chip, and remapper.