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. 29, 2007
Filed:
Nov. 02, 2004
Kenneth P. Parker, Ft. Collins, CO (US);
Kenneth P. Parker, Ft. Collins, CO (US);
Agilent Technologies, Inc., Santa Clara, CA (US);
Abstract
A method and apparatus for detecting shorts between accessible and inaccessible signal nodes (e.g., integrated circuit pins) of an electrical device (e.g., an integrated circuit), using capacitive lead frame technology is presented. In accordance with the method of the invention, an accessible node under test is stimulated with a known source signal. A capacitive sense plate is capacitively coupled to at least one of the accessible node and inaccessible node of the electrical device, and a measuring device coupled to the capacitive sense plate capacitively senses a signal present on the at least one of the accessible node and inaccessible node of the electrical device. Based on the value of the capacitively sensed signal, a known expected 'defect-free' capacitively sensed signal measurement and/or a known expected 'shorted' capacitively sensed signal measurement, one can determine whether a short fault exists between the accessible node and inaccessible node of the electrical device.