A 2-ns detecting time, 2- mu m CMOS built-in current sensing circuit

Abstract

Built-in current testing is known to enhance the defect coverage in CMOS VLSI. An experimental CMOS chip containing a high-speed built-in current sensing (BICS) circuit design is described. This chip has been fabricated through MOSIS 2- mu m p-well CMOS technology. The power bus current of an 8*8 parallel multiplier is monitored. This BICS detects all implanted short-circuit defects and some implanted open-circuit defects at a clock speed of 30 MHz (limited by the test setup). SPICE3 simulations indicate a defect detection time of about 2 ns.< <ETX xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">&gt;</ETX>