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.

Date of Patent:
Nov. 02, 2004

Filed:

Feb. 10, 2003
Applicant:
Inventor:

William Ng, San Jose, CA (US);

Assignee:

National Semiconductor Corporation, Santa Clara, CA (US);

Attorney:
Primary Examiner:
Assistant Examiner:
Int. Cl.
CPC ...
G01R 2/728 ; G01R 3/100 ;
U.S. Cl.
CPC ...
G01R 2/728 ; G01R 3/100 ;
Abstract

The present invention is a process for measuring semiconductor device output capacitance and slew rate from switching-induced hot carrier luminescence. The process for determining the output capacitive loading of a semiconductor device includes measuring the peak switching-induced hot carrier luminescence and comparing it to previously correlated capacitance data. The process for determining the output slew rate of a semiconductor device by measuring the switching-induced hot carrier luminescence as a function of time, calculating a standard deviation of the luminescence data, and comparing it to previously correlated output slew rate data. The peak of a switching-induced hot carrier luminescence pulse directly relates to the driving capacitance and the standard deviation of a pulse relates to the rate of change of output voltage or slew rate.


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