Method and apparatus for detecting an unused state in a semiconductor circuit

摘要

An unused state detection circuit is disclosed that detects an unused state in a semiconductor circuit. A semiconductor circuit is "unused" when the unused state detection circuit has not been permanently cleared. When a semiconductor circuit is first powered up, the unused state detection circuit will detect that the semiconductor circuit has not previously been "used" and can automatically activate a boot up procedure or a testing procedure (or both). After the semiconductor circuit is used, the unused state detection circuit provides an indication that the semiconductor circuit is no longer unused. The unused state detection circuit uses the state of a dedicated non-volatile memory array or a dedicated region of the general non-volatile memory portion of the semiconductor circuit to detect whether the semiconductor circuit has been previously unused.