The radiated noise of a semiconductor device is conveniently evaluated, and the radiated noise of an apparatus equipped with the semiconductor device is estimated. An evaluation method and an evaluation apparatus are provided, including: causing a semiconductor device to perform a switching operation; measuring voltage variation occurring between main terminals of the semiconductor device during the switching operation; and outputting an evaluation benchmark for radiated noise of the semiconductor device based on the voltage variation. The outputting the evaluation benchmark may include calculating the voltage variation in the semiconductor device for each frequency component as the evaluation benchmark.

A ring oscillator (RO) circuit for capturing one or more characteristics relating to aging of CMOS circuitry in a CMOS device has been described. The RO circuit includes a plurality of stages coupled via an RO feedback signal line and forming an inverter chain. The plurality of stages include, for each stage, a respective CMOS inverter comprising a pair of pMOS and nMOS transistors followed by a pass gate, wherein an output of a pass gate for a stage is coupled to an input for the respective CMOS inverter of a next stage. The plurality of stages include an enable stage to enable the inverter chain to be put into a free oscillating mode or another mode in which the RO circuit does not freely oscillate. The plurality of stages include a Device Under Test (DUT) stage preceded by a pre-stage where respective supply rails of the DUT stage and pre-stage are isolated from one another.

Provided is a semiconductor device including a MOS analog circuit which has a high reliability and a low manufacturing cost, and in which latent failure is easily detected. The MOS analog circuit is switched to a test state or an operating state based on a control signal that is externally supplied. In the test state, a voltage between a power supply terminal and a reference terminal is applied to a gate oxide film of a MOS transistor included in the MOS analog circuit.

An electronic control device including a control unit and switching elements is inspected. A slew rate of each of the switching elements is observed. A predetermined target slew rate range is stored. It is determined whether an observation result of the slew rate is disposed within or outside the predetermined target slew rate range. A slew rate adjust value is calculated based on a determination result of the observation result when the slew rate is disposed outside the predetermined target slew rate range. The slew rate adjust value is written in a storage unit of the control unit.

In accordance with embodiments of the present disclosure, a method for identifying a location of an integrated circuit that is sensitive to RTS noise may include applying localized heat to a scan area of the integrated circuit, observing any change in one or more electrical parameters of the integrated circuit in response to the localized heat being applied to the scan area indicative of sensitivity to RTS noise, and identifying the location sensitive to RTS noise responsive to observing change in one or more electrical parameters of the integrated circuit indicative of sensitivity to RTS noise in response to the localized heat being applied to the scan area.

Provided is a semiconductor device including a MOS analog circuit which has a high reliability and a low manufacturing cost, and in which latent failure is easily detected. The MOS analog circuit is switched to a test state or an operating state based on a control signal that is externally supplied. In the test state, a voltage between a power supply terminal and a reference terminal is applied to a gate oxide film of a MOS transistor included in the MOS analog circuit.

A method, system, and non-transitory computer-readable medium for characterizing oxide defects in semiconductor devices are described. Based on time-resolved SILC data, a total number of active oxide defects and each defect's characteristics can be determined for a deeply-scaled FET device. The discrete changes in leakage current correspond to switching of a single defect. A Bayesian-inspired algorithm is utilized to extract distinct current levels and experimental data is quantized into these extracted current levels by filtering noise. The evolution of current levels corresponds to a Markov chain. The defect currents are extracted by clustering transition probabilities and absolute differences in current levels using an affinity propagation algorithm. A maximum likelihood estimator is developed to extract a base leakage current. Lastly, defect currents are used to reconstruct the experimental data and its deconvolution into activity of individual defects provides the respective time

A method for testing semiconductor devices is disclosed, which includes: obtaining a result measured on a semiconductor device in one of a set of tests; comparing the result with a maximum value determined among respective results that were previously measured in one or more of the set of tests and a minimum value determined among respective results that were previously measured in one or more of the set of tests; determining, based on the comparison between the first result and the maximum and minimum values, whether to update the maximum and minimum values to calculate a delta value; comparing the delta value with a noise threshold value; determining based on the comparison between the delta value and the noise threshold value, whether to update a value of a timer; determining that the value of the timer satisfies a timer threshold; and determining that the semiconductor device incurs noise.

A method for testing semiconductor devices is disclosed, which includes: obtaining a result measured on a semiconductor device in one of a set of tests; comparing the result with a maximum value determined among respective results that were previously measured in one or more of the set of tests and a minimum value determined among respective results that were previously measured in one or more of the set of tests; determining, based on the comparison between the first result and the maximum and minimum values, whether to update the maximum and minimum values to calculate a delta value; comparing the delta value with a noise threshold value; determining based on the comparison between the delta value and the noise threshold value, whether to update a value of a timer; determining that the value of the timer satisfies a timer threshold; and determining that the semiconductor device incurs noise.

Methods and apparatus for a diagnostic in situ ring oscillator (RO) circuit for DC and transient characterization. The RO circuit includes a plurality of symmetrical stages coupled via an RO feedback signal line and forming an inverter chain, where each stage includes a CMOS inverter comprising a pair of pMOS and nMOS transistors coupled between power-gating transistors respectively coupled to a positive voltage source and ground, wherein an output of a CMOS inverter for the stage is coupled to an input for the CMOS inverter of a next stage. The first stage is a configurable enable stage to enable the inverter chain to be set into a defined logic state, followed by multiple pre-stage-DUT stages. The output of the last stage is feed back to the input of the enable stage to form an RO feedback signal. The RO circuit can operate in multiple modes including an AC mode, a DC mode, and a hybrid mode.