The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Jan. 23, 1996
Filed:
Aug. 09, 1994
Teh-Kuin Lee, San Jose, CA (US);
LSI Logic Corporation, Milpitas, CA (US);
Abstract
A process monitor for a CMOS integrated circuit includes first and second delay units that are connected in a ring to constitute a ring oscillator that generates pulses having different phases at the outputs of the delay units respectively. The delay units affect the frequency of the pulses and also the rising and falling edges of the pulses differently depending on the process factor of PMOS and NMOS transistors in the delay units. The process factor can be computed from the frequency, or the ratio of the phase differences between the rising and falling edges of the pulses at the outputs of the first and second delay units. The oscillatory configuration of the monitor is highly sensitive to variations in process factor, and enables the monitor to be embodied by a relatively small number of elements that can fit in two input/output slots in a standard integrated circuit layout.
Data source: USPTO (United States Patent and Trademark Office) public patent records. Weekly synchronization. How IDiyas builds this profile