Method and apparatus for characterizing thermal marginality in an integrated circuit

摘要

Apparatus and methods are described herein for emulating the hot spot distribution of a functional test by applying vectors for structural test to an integrated circuit (IC). The affects of the hot spots can then be tested and characterized. The vectors may be generated on the IC, or may be fed to the IC via an external source.

主权项

1. A method for testing integrated circuit (IC) performance, comprising:
generating, via a design-for-test structure on the IC, one or more thermal hot spots in one or more core blocks of the IC based on a received thermal profile, wherein the generating the one or more thermal hot spots in one or more core blocks comprises exciting at least one core block of the IC by using test vectors that mimic a functional operation of the at least one core block; and initiating one or more through-silicon-via (TSV) tests on one or more components of the IC over a range of voltage and frequency values when at least one of the one or more thermal hot spots is present.