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. 16, 2006
Filed:
Mar. 04, 2004
Wendy Ann Belluomini, Austin, TX (US);
Andrew Kenneth Martin, Austin, TX (US);
Chandler Todd Mcdowell, Austin, TX (US);
Wendy Ann Belluomini, Austin, TX (US);
Andrew Kenneth Martin, Austin, TX (US);
Chandler Todd McDowell, Austin, TX (US);
International Business Machines Corporation, Armonk, NY (US);
Abstract
A method and ring oscillator circuit for measuring circuit delays over a wide operating range permits improved analysis of dynamic circuits. A pulse generator circuit provides a pulse to an input of a dynamic circuit under test, which may be a pre-charge or evaluation pulse that is triggered by a transition of an output of the dynamic circuit that occurs during the state opposite that of the state commanded by the pulse. The action of the circuit provides for measuring any amount of delay to the next transition in the opposite state irrespective of the pulse width. By providing a wide-range of operation, characteristics such as leakage, charge sharing, data dependent node capacitance, previous value dependence as well as other dynamic circuit behaviors may be determined. The ring oscillator circuit includes an enable start circuit that causes a first pulse to be generated by the one-shot when the ring oscillator circuit is enabled.