Terahertz plasmonics for testing very large-scale integrated circuits under bias

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10890618-B2
Application number	US-201715437713-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Feb 21, 2017
Priority date	Feb 21, 2017
Publication date	Jan 12, 2021
Grant date	Jan 12, 2021

Abstract

Various embodiments are described that relate to failure determination for an integrated circuit. An integrated circuit can be tested to determine if the integrated circuit is functioning properly. The integrated circuit can be subjected to a specific radiation such that the integrated circuit produces a response. This response can be compared against an expected response to determine if the response matches the expected response. If the response does not match the expected response, then the integrated circuit fails the test. If the response matches the expected response, then the integrated circuit passes the test.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A system, comprising:
an evaluation component configured to evaluate a feature set of an integrated circuit to produce an evaluation result;
a selection component configured to select a radiation value for a radiation set from a first possible radiation value and a second possible radiation value, where the selection of the radiation value is based, at least in part, on the evaluation result;
an emission component configured to cause an emission of the radiation set upon the integrated circuit such that the integrated circuit produces a response; and
a reception component configured to receive the response.

2. The system of claim 1 ,
where the radiation set comprises a first frequency and a second frequency,
where the first frequency is different from the second frequency,
where the emission component causes an emission of the first frequency in series with an emission of the second frequency.

3. The system of claim 1 , where the radiation set is modulated as a function of time.

4. The system of claim 1 ,
where the emission of the radiation set comprises a first emission at a first radiation,
where the emission of the radiation set comprises a second emission at a second radiation, and
where the first radiation and the second radiation are different radio frequencies.

5. The system of claim 1 ,
where the response is a response by a transistor set of the integrated circuit due to a bias of the transistor set.

6. The system of claim 1 ,
where the emission of the radiation set upon the integrated circuit occurs wirelessly and
where the reception component is configured to receive the response by way of physical coupling with this integrated circuit.

7. The system of claim 1 , where the integrated circuit is incorporated into an apparatus when the integrated circuit produces the response.

8. A system, comprising:
an emission component configured to cause an emission of a radiation set upon an integrated circuit such that the integrated circuit produces a response; and
a reception component configured to receive the response,
where the response is a noise spectral density,
where the response, in view of the radiation set, indicates a failure state of the integrated circuit and
where the emission component, the reception component, or a combination thereof is, at least in part, non-software.

9. The system of claim 8 ,
where the radiation set comprises a first frequency and a second frequency,
where the first frequency is different from the second frequency,
where the emission component causes an emission of the first frequency in series with an emission of the second frequency.

10. The system of claim 8 , where the radiation set is modulated as a function of time.

11. The system of claim 8 , where the reception component receives the response by way of a physical coupling to a pin set of the integrated circuit.

12. The system of claim 8 ,
where the emission of the radiation set comprises a first emission at a first radiation,
where the emission of the radiation set comprises a second emission at a second radiation, and
where the first radiation and the second radiation are different radio frequencies.

13. The system of claim 8 ,
where the emission of the radiation set upon the integrated circuit occurs wirelessly and
where the reception component is configured to receive the response by way of physical coupling with this integrated circuit.

14. The system of claim 8 , where the integrated circuit is incorporated into an apparatus when the integrated circuit produces the response.

15. A system, comprising:
an emission component configured to cause an emission of a radiation set upon an integrated circuit such that the integrated circuit produces a response; and
a reception component configured to receive the response,
where the reception component receives the response as a voltage,
where the reception component receives the response by way of a physical coupling to a pin set of the integrated circuit,
where the response, in view of the radiation set, indicates a failure state of the integrated circuit and
where the emission component, the reception component, or a combination thereof is, at least in part, non-software.

16. The system of claim 15 , where the radiation set is modulated as a function of time.

17. The system of claim 15 ,
where the emission of the radiation set comprises a first emission at a first radiation,
where the emission of the radiation set comprises a second emission at a second radiation, and
where the first radiation and the second radiation are different radio frequencies.

18. The system of claim 15 ,
where the response is a response by a transistor set of the integrated circuit due to a bias of the transistor set.

19. The system of claim 15 ,
where the emission of the radiation set upon the integrated circuit occurs wirelessly and
where the reception component is configured to receive the response by way of physical coupling with this integrated circuit.

20. The system of claim 15 , where the integrated circuit is incorporated into an apparatus when the integrated circuit produces the response.

Assignees

• Us Gov Sec Army

Inventors

• Rupper Greg
• Suarez John
• Rudin Sergey
• Reed Meredith
• Shur Michael

Classifications

• G01R31/2815

  Functional tests, e.g. boundary scans, using the normal I/O contacts (contacting devices G01R31/2808; testing digital circuits G01R31/317, G06F11/00) · CPC title

• G01R31/311 Primary

  of integrated circuits {(G01R31/31728 takes precedence)} · CPC title

• G01R31/318533

  using scanning techniques, e.g. LSSD, Boundary Scan, JTAG · CPC title

• G01R31/2656

  using non-ionising electromagnetic radiation, e.g. optical radiation · CPC title