Method and apparatus for early detection of reliability degradat

Details Method and apparatus for early detection of reliability degradat Method and apparatus for early detection of reliability degradat

1998-10-15

2000-07-25

Wu, Daniel J.

Communications: electrical

Condition responsive indicating system

Specific condition

340661, 340635, 257 48, 327 52, 327 97, G08B 2100

Patent

active

060941448

ABSTRACT:
A circuit that senses changes in the electrical characteristics of a guard ring, and generates one or more signals based, at least in part, on the electrical characteristics that are sensed, is incorporated into an integrated circuit. The one or more signals generated by the circuit are indicative of the reliability of the integrated circuit.
In one embodiment of the present invention, a first point of the guard ring is electrically coupled to a voltage supply node by a switchable element such as a MOSFET, and at least two points of the guard ring are electrically coupled respectively to two input terminals of a differential amplifier circuit in such a way that voltage changes across the guard ring can be sensed.

REFERENCES:
patent: 4288694 (1981-09-01), Ahrons
patent: 4672849 (1987-06-01), Hoshino
patent: 5057775 (1991-10-01), Hall
patent: 5670821 (1997-09-01), Bowers
patent: 5754060 (1998-05-01), Nguyen et al.
patent: 5844249 (1998-12-01), Takano et al.

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