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:
Sep. 23, 2003
Filed:
Nov. 05, 1999
Terrence Lee Van Ausdall, Boulder Creek, CA (US);
Rudolf A. Weidemann, Fremont, CA (US);
Zoran Corporation, Santa Clara, CA (US);
Abstract
A method and apparatus which enables fast testing of light sensing integrated circuits is disclosed. The integrated circuit is positioned in a test head which includes a light source output providing a flat field light to shine on the light sensing portion of the integrated circuit under test. The light is provided to the light source output through an optical fiber from a light box which includes electronic filtering and shutter operations. Light is provided to the light box through another optical fiber from a precision light source. The operation of the light box, including adjusting filtering characteristics and shutter timing is controlled from a tester which also controls the integrated circuit under test in the test head. A high speed data link couples output signals from the test head to dedicated signal processing circuitry which analyzes the output signals to determine whether the integrated circuit passes or fails testing. The optical system including, for example, a liquid crystal filter which can be controlled very quickly, and the dedicated signal processor and high speed data link allows testing of integrated circuits to be carried out at a very high speed.