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:
Dec. 05, 2000
Filed:
Jan. 28, 1998
Arthur T Leung, Jr, Sunnyvale, CA (US);
Sun Microsystems, Inc., Mountain View, CA (US);
Abstract
A burn-in system for integrated circuits (ICs) generates thorough input stimuli from within the burn-in chamber. A very high node-toggle percentage within the IC being exercised is achieved, similar to that of a dynamic burn-in oven, even though the burn-in system of this invention has a cost and complexity similar to that of a static burn-in oven. This provides a cost-effective and reliable way to reduce the infant mortality of the ICs being exercised, or to estimate the longevity of the batch of ICs from which they came. The input-stimuli generator is based on a special-purpose burn-in controller IC. To better withstand the environmental stress within the burn-in chamber, the burn-in controller IC is fabricated using a robust IC technology, is operated at its nominal supply voltage and includes continuous fault tolerance features (such as self-test and/or voting). It is fully programmable to allow the same burn-in controller to be used with a variety of types of ICs being exercised. In accordance with another aspect of this invention, the input-stimuli generator loads instruction memory internal to the ICs being exercised with a self-exercise program and then waits while they execute this self-exercise program.