A method for manufacturing a semiconductor device includes forming a circuit including a plurality of flip-flops, a plurality of first switches, a second switch and a signal line on a wafer, the flip-flops being connected in series through the first switches, respectively, and the signal line being connected to the second switch, and being configured to supply a signal in parallel to the flip-flops; testing the flip-flops by turning off the first switches, turning on the second switch, and supplying a test signal in parallel through the signal line to the flip-flops; and cutting at least one interconnect of a switch portion in the circuit, the switch portion including the first switches and the second switch, so that the first switch is turned on and the second switch is turned off.

A count value generation circuit includes a first counter that counts edges of a reference signal to generate a first count value in synchronization with an input signal, a time digital value generator that generates a time digital value corresponding to a phase difference between the reference signal and the input signal, a count integrated value combiner that outputs a difference between an integer multiple of the first count value and the time digital value, and a count value generator that generates a count value based on a difference between a first output value and a second output value output from the count integrated value combiner.

A frequency divider may include: a core circuit including a first flip-flop loop and a second flip-flop loop, wherein each of the first flip-flop loop and the second flip-flop loop divides a frequency of a clock signal received via a control terminal of a flip-flop, wherein the core circuit is configured to: output a frequency-divided signal, based on a first signal output by the first flip-flop loop and a second signal output by the second flip-flop loop, the first and second signals having same frequency-division ratios and different phases, and feed back the frequency-divided signal via an input terminal of each of the first and second flip-flop loops; a duty correction circuit that receives the frequency-divided signal and outputs a differential output signal that is generated by correcting a duty ratio of the frequency-divided signal; and an output circuit that outputs a first output signal, which is a signal amplified from the differential output signal, and a second output signal that is a quadrature signal of the first output signal.

Disclosed examples include non-volatile counter systems to generate and store a counter value according to a sensor pulse signal, and power circuits to generate first and second supply voltage signals to power first and second power domain circuits using power from the sensor pulse signal, including a switch connected between first and second power domain supply nodes, a boost circuit, and a control circuit to selectively cause the switch to disconnect the first and second power domain circuits from one another after the first supply voltage signal rises above a threshold voltage in a given pulse of the sensor pulse signal, and to cause the boost circuit to boost the second supply voltage signal after the regulator output is disconnected from the second power domain supply node in the given pulse.

The present invention provides a fractional frequency divider, wherein the fractional frequency divider includes a plurality of registers, a counter, a control signal generator and a clock gating circuit. Regarding the plurality of registers, at least a portion of the registers are set to have values The counter is configured to sequentially generate a plurality of counter values, wherein the plurality of counter values correspond to the at least a portion of the registers, respectively, and the plurality of counter values are generated repeatedly The control signal generator is configured to generate a control signal based on the received counter value and the value of the corresponding register. The clock gating circuit is configured to refer to the control signal to mask or not mask an input clock signal to generate an output clock signal.

A disclosed apparatus for accomplishing such a task may include (1) a circuit board incorporated into a module designed for insertion into slots of computing devices, (2) at least one conductive contact disposed on the circuit board, (3) a counter circuit disposed on the circuit board and communicatively coupled to the conductive contact, wherein the counter circuit comprises (A) a signal-change detector that detects signal changes as the module is inserted into one of the slots of the computing devices and (B) a counter device that maintains a dynamic count indicative of a number of times that the module has been inserted into one of the slots of the computing devices based at least in part on the signal changes, (4) a battery electrically coupled to the counter circuit, wherein the battery powers the counter device prior to the insertion. Various other apparatuses, systems, and methods are also disclosed.

A disclosed apparatus for accomplishing such a task may include (1) a circuit board incorporated into a module designed for insertion into slots of computing devices, (2) at least one conductive contact disposed on the circuit board, (3) a counter circuit disposed on the circuit board and communicatively coupled to the conductive contact, wherein the counter circuit comprises (A) a signal-change detector that detects signal changes as the module is inserted into one of the slots of the computing devices and (B) a counter device that maintains a dynamic count indicative of a number of times that the module has been inserted into one of the slots of the computing devices based at least in part on the signal changes, (4) a battery electrically coupled to the counter circuit, wherein the battery powers the counter device prior to the insertion. Various other apparatuses, systems, and methods are also disclosed.

A monotonic counter memory system including a counter circuit and a memory circuit is provided. The counter circuit is configured to increase a count by one in response to a clock signal and output a count value of n bits, where n is a positive integer. The memory circuit includes a plurality of memory cells. The memory circuit is configured to store the count value. The stored count value changes one bit at each input count of the clock signal, and a bit switching time of the stored count value are smaller than 2.sup.n1 times.

A count value generation circuit includes a first counter that counts edges of a reference signal to generate a first count value in synchronization with an input signal, a time digital value generator that generates a time digital value corresponding to a phase difference between the reference signal and the input signal, a count integrated value combiner that outputs a difference between an integer multiple of the first count value and the time digital value, and a count value generator that generates a count value based on a difference between a first output value and a second output value output from the count integrated value combiner.

A digital frequency measuring apparatus includes a frequency divider dividing an input frequency signal and providing a divided frequency signal; a period counter counting clock cycles in a period of the divided frequency signal using a clock signal and providing a period count value for each period; and a digital filter amplifying the period count value using an accumulated gain, converting an amplified period count value into a frequency, and providing a first digital output value. The digital filter determines the accumulated gain using a predetermined stage number and a predetermined decimator factor.