CMOS TEMPERATURE SENSORS AND BUILT-IN-TEST CIRCUITRY FOR THERMAL TESTING OF ICS

The paper presents new, CMOS compatible temperature sensors designed f or the built-in thermal testing of VLSI circuits. The sensors have bee n tested by five realizations. Statistical analysis of the measured se nsor parameters and the experimental and theoretical investigations in a broad ( -72.5 to +165 degrees C) temperature range are presented. T he second part of the paper deals with the application. Experimental r esults, for example interfacing the sensor with the boundary-scan (BS) test circuitry, on-line thermal monitoring, measuring thermal transie nts by accessing the sensor via the BS interface, etc., demonstrate th e wide usability of the sensor. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science S.A. All rig hts reserved.