Invention Grant
- Patent Title: On silicon interconnect capacitance extraction
- Patent Title (中): 在硅互连电容提取
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Application No.: US11722629Application Date: 2005-12-19
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Publication No.: US07791357B2Publication Date: 2010-09-07
- Inventor: Praveen Pavithran , Marcel Pelgrom , Jean Wieling , Hendricus Joseph Veendrick
- Applicant: Praveen Pavithran , Marcel Pelgrom , Jean Wieling , Hendricus Joseph Veendrick
- Applicant Address: NL Eindhoven
- Assignee: NXP B.V.
- Current Assignee: NXP B.V.
- Current Assignee Address: NL Eindhoven
- Priority: EP04106917 20041223
- International Application: PCT/IB2005/054320 WO 20051219
- International Announcement: WO2006/067733 WO 20060629
- Main IPC: G01R27/26
- IPC: G01R27/26

Abstract:
The present invention relates to a on-chip circuit for on silicon interconnect capacitance (Cx) extraction that is self compensated for process variations in the integrated transistors. The circuit (10) comprises signal generation means (20) for generating a periodical pulse signal connected to first and to second signal delaying means (31, 32) for respective delaying said pulse signal, wherein said second signal delaying means (32) are configured to have a delay affected by said interconnect capacitance (Cx); a logical XOR gate (35) for connecting respective first and said second delay signals of said respective first and second delay means (31, 32), said logical XOR gate (35) being connected to signal integrating means (40); and said signal integrating means (40) being connected to analog to digital converting means (50). Whilst the error in conventional uncompensated systems, like delay line only, the error can be up to 30%, in the circuit according to the invention, the error due to process variations in the front-end is about 2%. Further, an output is provided in a digital format and thus, can be measured quickly with simple external hardware. Furthermore, the pulse signal frequency can be used as a monitor to measure process variations in the front-end. Moreover, since the circuit (10) is remarkably accurate and very easy to measure, it is the best choice as a process monitor for every chip fabricated in the future.
Public/Granted literature
- US20080143348A1 On Silicon Interconnect Capacitance Extraction Public/Granted day:2008-06-19
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