The power dissipated by the devices of a circuit can be construed as a sign
ature of the circuit's performance and state, Without disturbing the circui
t operation, this power consumption can be monitored by temperature measure
ments of the silicon die surface via built-in differential temperature sens
ors, In this paper, dynamic and spatial thermal behavioral characterization
of VLSI MOS devices is presented using laser thermoreflectance measurement
s and on-chip differential temperature sensing circuits, A discussion of th
e application of built-in differential temperature measurements as an IC te
st strategy is also presented.