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. 18, 2007
Filed:
Nov. 19, 2003
Bert M. Vermeire, Tucson, AZ (US);
Harold G. Parks, Tombstone, AZ (US);
Douglas L. Goodman, Tucson, AZ (US);
Bert M. Vermeire, Tucson, AZ (US);
Harold G. Parks, Tombstone, AZ (US);
Douglas L. Goodman, Tucson, AZ (US);
Ridgetop Group, Inc., Tucson, AZ (US);
Abstract
A prognostic cell is used to predict impending failure of a useful circuit or circuits in a host IC. Increasing the stress on the prognostic cell relative to the useful circuit shifts the failure distribution of the cell along the time axis. The relative amount of time between the useful circuit failure and prognostic cell trigger point is the 'prognostic distance'. The prognostic distance is controlled by designing in the excess stress applied in test device(s), by setting the threshold for triggering in the comparison circuit or by both. Prediction accuracy is enhanced by using multiple test devices to oversample the underlying failure distribution and triggering the failure indicator when a certain fraction fail.