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:
Nov. 23, 2010
Filed:
Nov. 19, 2007
Louis L. Hsu, Fishkill, NY (US);
Hayden C. Cranford, Jr., Cary, NC (US);
Oleg Gluschenkov, Poughkeepsie, NY (US);
James S. Mason, Eastleigh, GB;
Michael A. Sorna, Hopewell Junction, NY (US);
Chih-chao Yang, Poughkeepsie, NY (US);
Louis L. Hsu, Fishkill, NY (US);
Hayden C. Cranford, Jr., Cary, NC (US);
Oleg Gluschenkov, Poughkeepsie, NY (US);
James S. Mason, Eastleigh, GB;
Michael A. Sorna, Hopewell Junction, NY (US);
Chih-Chao Yang, Poughkeepsie, NY (US);
International Business Machines Corporation, Armonk, NY (US);
Abstract
A design structure embodied in a machine readable medium used in a design process can include apparatus of a semiconductor chip operable to detect an increase in resistance of a monitored element of the semiconductor chip. The design structure can include, for example, a resistive voltage divider circuit operable to output a plurality of reference voltages having different values. A plurality of comparators in the semiconductor chip may be coupled to receive the reference voltages and a monitored voltage representative of a resistance of the monitored element. Each of the comparators may produce an output indicating whether the monitored voltage exceeds the reference voltages, so that the resistance value of the monitored element may be precisely determined.