A current based self-test methodology for RF front-end circuits

Gopalan, A.; Margala, Martin; Mukund, P.R.

doi:10.1016/j.mejo.2005.04.064

Cited by 17 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 12 publications

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“…A detailed analysis of the degradation effect by sensing the current path of the DUT is presented in [16]. In our case, simulations have shown that the gain drops by 2.18 dB and the S 22 parameter drops by 8.8 dB.…”

Section: Current Sensormentioning

confidence: 87%

Sensors for built-in alternate RF test

Abdallah

Stratigopoulos

Kelma

et al. 2010

2010 15th IEEE European Test Symposium

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ISBN 978-1-4244-5834-9International audienceThe paper discusses a variety of sensors to enable a built-in test in RF devices. The list of sensors includes dummy circuits, process control monitors, DC probes, an envelope detector, and a current sensor. Dummy circuits and process control monitors are simple circuits that do not tap into the signal path of the RF device. Instead, they monitor the device by virtue of being subject to the same process variations. Their outputs form an alternative measurement pattern which can be mapped to the performances of the device using a typical alternate test flow. The rest of the sensors are physically connected to the RF device, thus they can detect random catastrophic defects within it and, as an auxiliary benefit, they can improve the accuracy in predicting its performances. The degradation that these sensors incur is carefully assessed and the RF device is co-designed with them to correct for the losses. The operation and test efficiency of the sensors is demonstrated for the case of an RF LNA using post-layout simulations

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Section: Current Sensormentioning

confidence: 87%

Sensors for built-in alternate RF test

Abdallah

Stratigopoulos

Kelma

et al. 2010

2010 15th IEEE European Test Symposium

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“…First, we record the output of the ED, then the input of the ED is switched to the output of the CS, in order to record the RMS value of the power supply current. The built-in test approach using envelope detectors and current sensors has been extensively studied in the literature [8][9][10][11][12]. It is cost-effective since only DC signals carrying RF information are extracted off-chip.…”

Section: B Bootstrapmentioning

confidence: 99%

Multivariate statistical techniques for analog parametric test metrics estimation

Huang

Stratigopoulos

Abdallah

et al. 2013

2013 8th International Conference on Design &Amp; Technology of Integrated Systems in Nanoscale Era (DTIS)

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The high cost for testing the analog blocks of a modern chip has sparked research efforts to replace the standard tests with less costly alternative tests. However, test engineers are rather reluctant to adopt alternative tests unless they are evaluated thoroughly before moving to production and they are proven to maintain test quality. This paper gives a comprehensive overview of statistical techniques based on density estimation for evaluating analog parametric test metrics during the test development phase. A large-scale simulation study is carried out for the first time with the aim to demonstrate these techniques in action.

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“…Current consumption is a test measure. On chip current sensors have already been proposed by 10,12,13 . − Output power: the instantaneous differential power at the buffer output has been considered.…”

Section: Fig2 Test Benchmentioning

confidence: 99%

Test measures evaluation for VCO and charge pump blocks in RF PLLs

2007

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This work deals with the development of test techniques for RF (Radio Frequency) components. The optimization of production tests for RF PLLs (Phase Locked Loops) is targeted in particular. With devices of ever increasing speed, it is no longer possible to measure some of the classical circuit performances even with dedicated RF testers. This problem has been tackled in recent years by using BIST (Built-In Self Test) techniques for PLLs able to perform on-chip high resolution measurements such as picosecond jitter. However, this risks to become also impossible at very high frequencies.This paper will present some preliminary work towards the optimization of production tests for RF PLLs with the aim of avoiding traditional test measurements such as phase noise. Attention will be focused on single relevant blocks of the RF PLL that have the greatest impact on phase noise and other critical performances. The VCO (Voltage Controlled Oscillator) block will be first studied, since it gives the greatest contribution to phase noise. Our work will proceed by taking into consideration the possibility to detect mismatches and leakages in CP (Charge Pump) currents that cause spurious in the output spectrum. Simulation results in this paper will consider only catastrophic faults in circuit components. The fault coverage of performances and simple test measurements that can be implemented on-chip for the VCO is thus evaluated.

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A current based self-test methodology for RF front-end circuits

Cited by 17 publications

References 12 publications

Sensors for built-in alternate RF test

Sensors for built-in alternate RF test

Multivariate statistical techniques for analog parametric test metrics estimation

Test measures evaluation for VCO and charge pump blocks in RF PLLs

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