Patent Document

TECHNICAL FIELD 
       [0001]    This patent application relates generally to a calibration device for use, e.g., with automatic test equipment (ATE). 
       BACKGROUND 
       [0002]    Automatic test equipment (ATE) refers to an automated, usually computer-driven, system for testing devices, such as semiconductors, electronic circuits, and printed circuit board assemblies. A device tested by ATE is referred to as a device under test (DUT). 
         [0003]    ATE typically includes a computer system and a testing device or a single device having corresponding functionality. Pin electronics are typically part of the testing device. Pin electronics can include drivers, comparators and/or active load functionality for testing a DUT. The drivers provide test signals to pins on the testing device. 
         [0004]    ATE is typically capable of providing different types of signals to a DUT. Examples of these signals are the test signals noted above, which are used during testing of the DUT (e.g., to test the DUT). The next generation of high speed memory devices operates at a data transfer speed of up to at least 6.4 Gigabits per second (Gbps). A specific type of these devices, namely New Memory Technology (NMT) devices, requires 3 to 6 device input or output lanes (channels) to share one delay adjustment circuit in order to save die area. As a result, testers for NMT devices often need to provide signals with precision lane-to-lane skew, often less than +/−25 ps (picoseconds), at the DUT. Currently-available calibration technology uses a robot to probe at the DUT socket, which is expensive due to robot cost, maintenance costs, and calibration time cost. 
     
    
     
       DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0005]      FIG. 1  is a block diagram of ATE for testing devices. 
           [0006]      FIG. 2  is a block diagram of a tester used in the ATE. 
           [0007]      FIG. 3  is a block diagram of a skew calibration device for use with the ATE. 
           [0008]      FIG. 4  is a block diagram of a signal routing chip in the skew calibration device for comparator lane-to-lane skew measurements. 
           [0009]      FIG. 5  shows block diagrams of exemplary signal routing chips for driver lane-to-lane skew measurements. 
       
    
    
       [0010]    Like reference numerals in different figures indicate like elements. 
       SUMMARY 
       [0011]    According to an illustrative embodiment, a calibration device is provided for use with automatic test equipment (ATE). The calibration device includes circuitry having a fanout circuit. The fanout circuit has an input connected to a first channel of the ATE and outputs connected to N (N&gt;1) channels of the ATE, where the N channels do not include the first channel. The ATE propagates an edge on the first channel, and the fanout circuit transmits the edge to the N channels. 
         [0012]    In a further illustrative embodiment, a calibration device for use with automatic test equipment includes a drive-side circuit. The drive-side circuit includes circuitry having multiple inputs connected to N (N&gt;1) channels of the ATE and an output connected to a second channel of the ATE that is not one of the N channels. The ATE propagates an edge on each of the N-channels and the circuitry propagates each edge to the second channel of the ATE. 
         [0013]    In a further illustrative embodiment, a calibration device for use with automatic test equipment includes circuitry having a fanout circuit. The fanout circuit has an input connected to a first channel of the ATE and outputs connected to M (M&gt;1) channels of the ATE, where the M channels do not include the first channel, wherein the ATE propagates an edge on the first channel, and the fanout circuit transmits the edge to the M channel. A drive-side circuit includes circuitry having multiple inputs connected to N (N&gt;1) channels of the ATE and an output connected to a second channel of the ATE that is not one of the N channels; wherein the ATE propagates an edge on each of the N-channels and the circuitry propagates each edge to the second channel of the ATE. 
         [0014]    In a further illustrative embodiment, a method of calibration includes propagating an edge on a first channel of a signal source. Via a fanout circuit, the edge is transmitted to N channels, the fanout circuit having an input connected to the first channel and outputs connected to N (N&gt;1) channels of the signal source, where the N channels do not include the first channel. A measurement is obtained, the measurement corresponding to the edge at each of the N channels, where differences in measurements between the edges at each of the N channels corresponds to comparator lane-to-lane skew. 
         [0015]    In a further illustrative embodiment, a method of calibration includes propagating an edge to each of N-channels of a signal source. Propagating the edge at each of the N-channels is also performed, via a drive-side circuit having multiple inputs connected to the N (N&gt;1) channels of the signal source, to a second channel of the signal source that is not one of the N channels. Also, measurements are obtained corresponding to times that the edges at each of the N-channels are received, wherein a difference in measurements corresponds to driver-side skew. 
         [0016]    In a further illustrative embodiment, a method of calibration provides propagating a first edge on a first channel of a signal source. Via fanout circuit, the first edge is transmitted to M channels. The fanout circuit has an input connected to the first channel and outputs connected to M (M&gt;1) channels of the signal source, where the M channels do not include the first channel. A measurement is obtained corresponding to the first edge at each of the M channels, where differences in measurements between the first edges at each of the M channels corresponds to comparator lane-to-lane skew. A second edge is propagated to each of N-channels of the signal source. Further, the second edge is propagated at each of the N-channels, via a drive-side circuit having multiple inputs connected to the N (N&gt;1) channels of the signal source, to a second channel of the signal source that is not one of the N channels. Measurements are obtained corresponding to times that the second edges at each of the N-channels are received, wherein a difference in measurements corresponds to driver-side skew. 
         [0017]    In a further illustrative embodiment, a computer program product has instructions executable using a data processing apparatus. The instructions include propagating an edge on a first channel of a signal source and transmitting, via a fanout circuit, the edge to N channels. The fanout circuit has an input connected to the first channel and outputs connected to N (N&gt;1) channels of the signal source, where the N channels do not include the first channel. A measurement is obtained corresponding to the edge at each of the N channels, where differences in measurements between the edges at each of the N channels corresponds to comparator lane-to-lane skew. 
         [0018]    In a further illustrative embodiment, a computer program product has instructions executable using a data processing apparatus. The instructions include propagating an edge to each of N-channels of a signal source and propagating the edge at each of the N-channels, via a drive-side circuit. The drive-side circuit has multiple inputs connected to the N (N&gt;1) channels of the signal source, to a second channel of the signal source that is not one of the N channels. Measurements are obtained corresponding to times that the edges at each of the N-channels are received, wherein a difference in measurements corresponds to driver-side skew. 
         [0019]    In a further illustrative embodiment, a computer program product has instructions executable using a data processing apparatus. The instructions include propagating a first edge on a first channel of a signal source. Via fanout circuit, the first edge is transmitted to M channels. The fanout circuit has an input connected to the first channel and outputs connected to M (M&gt;1) channels of the signal source, where the M channels do not include the first channel. A measurement is obtained corresponding to the first edge at each of the M channels, where differences in measurements between the first edges at each of the M channels corresponds to comparator lane-to-lane skew. A second edge is propagated to each of N-channels of the signal source. Further, the second edge is propagated at each of the N-channels, via a drive-side circuit having multiple inputs connected to the N (N&gt;1) channels of the signal source, to a second channel of the signal source that is not one of the N channels. Measurements are obtained corresponding to times that the second edges at each of the N-channels are received, wherein a difference in measurements corresponds to driver-side skew. 
       DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
       [0020]    Various embodiments of the present invention seek to provide greater lane-to-lane skew accuracy, as well as a more efficient and durable calibration approach. Referring to  FIG. 1 , a system  10  for testing a device-under-test (DUT)  18 , such as a semiconductor device, includes a tester  12 , such as automatic test equipment (ATE) or other similar testing device. To control the tester  12 , the system  10  includes a computer system  14  that interfaces with the tester  12  over a hardwire connection  16 . Typically, the computer system  14  sends commands to the tester  12  that initiate the execution of routines and functions for testing the DUT  18 . Such executing test routines may initiate the generation and transmission of test signals to the DUT  18  and collect responses from the DUT. Various types of DUTs may be tested by the system  10 . For example, DUTs may be semiconductor devices such as an integrated circuit (IC) chip (e.g., memory chip, microprocessor, analog-to-digital converter, digital-to-analog converter, etc.). 
         [0021]    To provide test signals and collect responses from the DUT, the tester  12  is connected to one or more connector pins that provide an interface for the internal circuitry of the DUT  18 . To test some DUTs, e.g., sixty-four or one hundred twenty-eight connector pins, or more, may be interfaced to the tester  12 . For illustrative purposes, in this example, the semiconductor device tester  12  is connected to one connector pin of the DUT  18  via a hardwire connection. A conductor  20  (e.g., cable) is connected to a pin  22  and is used to deliver test signals (e.g., PMU test signals, PE test signals, etc.) to the internal circuitry of the DUT  18 . The conductor  20  also senses signals at the pin  22  in response to the test signals provided by the semiconductor device tester  12 . For example, a voltage signal or a current signal may be sensed at the pin  22  in response to a test signal and sent over the conductor  20  to the tester  12  for analysis. 
         [0022]    Such single port tests may also be performed on other pins included in the DUT  18 . For example, the tester  12  may provide test signals to other pins and collect associated signals reflected back over conductors, such as those that deliver the provided signals. By collecting the reflected signals, the input impedance of the pins may be characterized along with other single port testing quantities. In other test scenarios, a digital signal may be sent over the conductor  20  to the pin  22  for storing a digital value on the DUT  18 . Once the digital value is stored, the DUT  18  may be accessed to retrieve and send the stored digital value over the conductor  20 , or another conductor, to the tester  12 . The retrieved digital value may then be identified to determine if the proper value was stored on the DUT  18 . 
         [0023]    Along with performing one-port measurements, a two-port test may also be performed by the semiconductor device tester  12 . For example, a test signal may be injected over the conductor  20  into the pin  22  and a response signal may be collected from one, two or more other pins of the DUT  18 . This response signal may be provided to the semiconductor device tester  12  to, for example, determine quantities, such as gain response, phase response, and other throughput measurement quantities. 
         [0024]    Referring also to  FIG. 2 , to send and collect test signals from multiple connector pins of a DUT (or multiple DUTs), semiconductor device tester  12  includes an interface card  24  that can communicate with numerous pins. For example, the interface card  24  may transmit test signals to, e.g., 32, 64, or 128 pins and collect corresponding responses. Each communication link to a pin is typically referred to as a channel and, by providing test signals to a large number of channels, testing time is reduced since multiple tests may be performed simultaneously. Output channels typically include drivers (not shown) to provide signals to a DUT, and input channels typically include comparators (also not shown) to, e.g., receive input signals, compare them to a reference, and provide an output. Along with having many channels on an interface card, such as by including multiple interface cards in tester  12 , the overall number of channels increases, thereby further reducing testing time. In this example, two additional interface cards  26  and  28  are shown to demonstrate that multiple interface cards may populate the tester  12 . 
         [0025]    According to the illustrative embodiment, each interface card can include a dedicated integrated circuit (IC) chip (e.g., an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC)) for performing particular test functions. For example, the interface card  24  includes an IC chip  30  for performing parametric measurement unit (PMU) tests and pin electronics (PE) tests. The IC chip  30  has a PMU stage  32  that includes circuitry for performing PMU tests and a PE stage  34  that includes circuitry for performing PE tests. Additionally, the interface cards  26  and  28  respectively include IC chips  36  and  38  that include PMU and PE circuitry. Typically PMU testing involves providing a DC voltage or current signal to the DUT to determine such quantities as input and output impedance, current leakage, and other types of DC performance characterizations. PE testing involves sending AC test signals, or waveforms, to a DUT (e.g., DUT  18 ) and collecting responses to further characterize the performance of the DUT. For example, IC chip  30  may transmit (to the DUT) AC test signals that represent a vector of binary values for storage on the DUT. Once these binary values have been stored, the DUT may be accessed by the tester  12  to determine if the correct binary values have been stored. Since digital signals typically include abrupt voltage transitions, the circuitry in PE stage  34  on IC chip  30  can operate at a relatively high speed in comparison to the circuitry in the PMU stage  32 . 
         [0026]    To pass both DC and AC test signals from the interface card  24  to the DUT  18 , a conducting trace  40  connects the IC chip  30  to an interface board connector  42  that allows signals to be passed on and off interface board  24 . The interface board connector  42  is also connected to a conductor  44  that is connected to an interface connector  46 , which allows signals to be passed to and from the tester  12 . In this example, the conductor  20  is connected to interface connector  46  for bi-directional signal passage between the tester  12  and the pin  22  of the DUT  18 . In some arrangements, an interface device may be used to connect one or more conductors from the tester  12  to the DUT. For example, the DUT (e.g., DUT  18 ) may be mounted onto a device interface board (DIB) for providing access to each DUT pin. In such an arrangement, the conductor  20  may be connected to the DIB for placing test signals on the appropriate pin(s) (e.g., pin  22 ) of the DUT. 
         [0027]    In this example, only the conducting trace  40  and the conductor  44  respectively connect the IC chip  30  and the interface board  24  for delivering and collecting signals. However, the IC chip  30  (along with IC chips  36  and  38 ) typically has multiple pins (e.g., eight, sixteen, etc.) that are respectively connected with multiple conducting traces and corresponding conductors for providing and collecting signals from the DUT (via a DIB). Additionally, in some arrangements, the tester  12  may connect to two or more DIB&#39;s for interfacing the channels provided by the interface cards  24 ,  26 , and  28  to one or multiple devices under test. 
         [0028]    To initiate and control the testing performed by the interface cards  24 ,  26 , and  28 , the tester  12  includes PMU control circuitry  48  and PE control circuitry  50  that provide test parameters (e.g., test signal voltage level, test signal current level, digital values, etc.) for producing test signals and analyzing DUT responses. The PMU control circuitry and PE control circuitry may be implemented using one or more processing devices Examples of processing devices include, but are not limited to, a microprocessor, a microcontroller, programmable logic (e.g., a field-programmable gate array), and/or combination(s) thereof. The tester  12  also includes a computer interface  52  that allows the computer system  14  to control the operations executed by the tester  12  and also allows data (e.g., test parameters, DUT responses, etc.) to pass between the tester  12  and computer system  14 . 
         [0029]    Described below is a calibration device that can interface to the ATE tester, e.g., by insertion into a DUT socket on the DIB. Once inside the socket, the calibration device can communicate with the tester and thereby enable lane-to-lane skew measurements, and subsequent calibration by the tester, which can result in calibrated lane-to-lane skew of, e.g., +/−25 ps or better, within a group of lanes. In this implementation, a lane may be, for example, a tester communication path that is typically for use in communicating to a DUT. The number of lanes within a group of lanes being calibrated can be customized in accordance with DUT requirements. A group of 6 lanes is used for the example below. 
         [0030]    One implementation of the calibration device is shown in  FIG. 3 . The calibration device of  FIG. 3  includes one or multiple high-precision signal routing devices (chips, in this implementation), which may be custom or commercially-available, and a printed circuit board (PCB) substrate, which include trace(s) to route input and output signals of the calibration device to appropriate routing chip(s). The PCB substrate may have the same form factor as a device (DUT) and, therefore, can make contact with the DUT socket (e.g., on the tester) in the same way as a DUT. 
         [0031]    In this implementation, there are two types of signal routing techniques on each calibration device: one for compare-side skew measurement and one for drive-side skew measurement. The implementation for compare-side skew is shown in  FIG. 4 . This implementation connects a tester channel (e.g., ch 6 ), which is not part of the channel group to be calibrated (e.g., ch 0 -ch 5 ), to the input (Q 6 ) of a high-precision clock fanout chip. The outputs of the clock fanout chip (Q 0 -Q 5 ) are connected to the channel group (ch 0 -ch 5 ) via the traces on the PCB substrate. These trace lengths may be well-matched to be within 5 mil (0.5% of an inch). Calibration is performed by generating an edge on the input lane (ch 6 ), which is fanned-out to the channel group through the calibration device and which is measured by the comparator of each tester channel. The difference in measured values represents the comparator lane-to-lane skew, and can be compensated by the tester by adjusting the appropriate calibration delay within each comparator. 
         [0032]    Referring to  FIG. 5 , the implementation for drive-side skew measurement uses a precision logic OR gate or multiplexer to connect a group of channels (e.g. Q 8 -Q 13 ) to one output (e.g. Q 14 ). According to the example implementation, one by one, every channel in the group sends an identically-programmed (or at least substantially-identically-programmed) edge through the calibration device to the output (Q 14 ), which is connected to a tester channel (ch 14 ) outside of the group. The comparator of this channel measures the edge time of all the channels within the input group, and the difference in the measurements (e.g., differences in received edge times) reveals the skew of the driver output. This skew can be compensated by the tester by adjusting the appropriate delay (e.g., driver timing) of each drive channel. 
         [0033]    This calibration device enables a parallel calibration process for multiple device test sites that only takes minutes, or less, to achieve lane-to-lane accuracy of, e.g., +/25 ps (or less), making the calibration device superior to at least some conventional robots. 
         [0034]    The ATE and calibration device are not limited to the hardware and software described above. The ATE and/or calibration device, or any portion thereof, can be implemented, at least in part, via a computer program product, i.e., a computer program tangibly embodied in an information carrier, such as one or more machine-readable media or a propagated signal, for execution by, or to control the operation of, one or more data processing apparatus, e.g., a programmable processor, a computer, multiple computers, and/or programmable logic elements. 
         [0035]    A computer program can be written in any form of programming language, including compiled or interpreted languages, and it can be deployed in any form, including as a stand-alone program or as a module, component, subroutine, or other unit suitable for use in a computing environment. A computer program can be deployed to be executed on one computer or on multiple computers at one site or distributed across multiple sites and interconnected by a network. 
         [0036]    Actions associated with implementing calibration and/or testing can be performed by one or more programmable processors executing one or more computer programs to perform the functions of the calibration process. All or part of the ATE and/or calibration device can be implemented as, special purpose logic circuitry. Examples can include, but are not limited to an FPGA (field programmable gate array) and an ASIC (application-specific integrated circuit). 
         [0037]    Processors suitable for the execution of a computer program include, by way of example, both general and special purpose microprocessors, and any one or more processors of any kind of digital computer. Generally, a processor will receive instructions and data from a read-only memory or a random access memory or both. Elements of a computer include a processor for executing instructions and one or more memory devices for storing instructions and data. 
         [0038]    Elements of different embodiments described herein may be combined to form other embodiments not specifically set forth above. Other embodiments not specifically described herein are also within the scope of the following claims.

Technology Category: 3