Methods and apparatus for inline characterization of high speed operating margins of a storage element

摘要

A method for inline characterization of at least one high speed operating margin of a storage element is provided. An output of at least one latch of the integrated circuit device is transitioned from a first output logic state to a second output logic state. The storage element is accessed at least once in response to the transition of the output of the at least one latch to perform at least one of a write operation and a read operation. A state of at least one output latch is observed corresponding to a state of the storage element. The transitioning, accessing and observing steps are repeated for one or more adjustable parameters to determine at least one high speed operating margin of the storage element.