Testing semiconductor memories: theory and practice
Testing semiconductor memories: theory and practice
Timing measurement unit with multi-stage TVC for embedded memories
Proceedings of the 2004 Asia and South Pacific Design Automation Conference
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The memory access time is the vital factor for embedded memory because the access time dominates the embedded memory performance. To characterize the accurate access time in tester for embedded memory is a big issue and an important topic that needs to research. The traditional method to measure the embedded memory access time is not accurate enough for the deep sub-micron environment. Moreover, the traditional method also needs the engineer to repeat many times and try-and-error by hand in test machine. This paper presents a new method to measure the embedded memory access time. It uses the BIST (Build-In Self Test) circuitry and revised the March C+ algorithm so that this circuitry can automatically characterize the embedded memory access time in tester. Moreover, this method can measure the maximum access time for each bit and each address in embedded memory. This method can guarantee that the access time measured from the tester is the worst condition in the embedded memory.