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:
May. 20, 2003
Filed:
Aug. 18, 2000
Applicant:
Inventor:
Mark A. Burns, McKinney, TX (US);
Assignee:
Texas Instruments Incorporated, Dallas, TX (US);
Attorney:
Primary Examiner:
Int. Cl.
CPC ...
H03M 1/10 ;
U.S. Cl.
CPC ...
H03M 1/10 ;
Abstract
The present invention provides a method ( ) of testing analog-to-digital converters (ADCs) ( ) that shortens the test time required to measure INL and DNL by advantageously converting the ADC ( ) into a digital to analog converter (DAC) ( ). The conversion from ADC to DAC is accomplished using a DfT test mode, which reconfigures the ADC into a DAC using a delta modulation circuit. Since DACs can be tested much more efficiently than ADCs, the ADC test time is substantially reduced by the invention.