Patent ID: 8152372

Claim:
A method for testing a known-good integrated circuit chip including a thermal diode embedded therein, the method comprising: performing a first test operation on the known-good integrated circuit chip; during the first test operation, detecting a signal representative of a first temperature sensed by the thermal diode; performing a second test operation on the known-good integrated circuit chip; during the second test operation, detecting a signal representative of a second temperature sensed by the thermal diode; generating a thermal profile for the known-good integrated circuit chip based at least in part on the first temperature and the second temperature; determining a first temperature limit and a second temperature limit, the first temperature limit and the second temperature limit being respectively associated with the first test operation and the second test operation, wherein said determining is based at least in part on the thermal profile; and generating a guardband using the first temperature limit and the second temperature limit, the guardband being used to test integrated circuit chips that are similar to the known-good integrated circuit chip.