Multiple-level data compression read more for memory testing

• US 20060044880A1
• Filed: 05/12/2005
• Published: 03/02/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 08/25/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Micron Technology, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Micron Technology, Inc.
• Inventors: Naso, Giovanni
• Granted Patent: US 7,434,152 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 365/189.50
• CPC Class Codes: G11C 29/40 using compression techniques

Abstract

Memory devices having a normal mode of operation and a test mode of operation are useful in quality programs. The test mode of operation includes a data compression test mode having more than one level of compression. The time necessary to read and verify a repeating test pattern can be reduced as only a fraction of the words of the memory device need be read to determine the ability of the memory device to accurately write and store data values. Output is selectively disabled if a bit location for one word of a group of words has a data value differing from any remaining word of its group of words for a number of groups of words.

Claims

1. A data compression circuit in a memory device, comprising:

a plurality of first level data compression circuits for receiving data signals corresponding to bit locations of each word of a group of words of the memory device and for providing a first match signal and a second match signal, the first match signal having a first logic level and the second match signal having a second logic level if a corresponding bit location for each word of the group has a first data value, the first match signal having the second logic level and the second match signal having the first logic level if the corresponding bit location for each word of the group has a second data value, and the first and second match signals otherwise having the same logic level; and

a second level data compression for receiving the first and second match signals from each of the first level data compression circuits and for providing a third match signal having a first logic level if all of the first match signals have the same logic level and all of the second match signals have the same logic level, and otherwise having a second logic level.

2. The data compression circuit of claim 1, wherein each first level data compression circuit comprises:

a first logic circuit for receiving the data signals corresponding to a given bit location of each word of a group of words of the memory device and for providing a first output signal indicative of whether each data signal has the first data value; and

a second logic circuit for receiving the data signals corresponding to the given bit location of each word of the group of words of the memory device and for providing a second output signal indicative of whether each data signal has the second data value.

3. The data compression circuit of claim 2, wherein the first logic circuit further comprises:

a plurality of inputs, wherein the inputs are coupled to receive data signals corresponding to the given bit location of each word of the group of words of the memory device; and

an output, wherein the output of the first logic circuit has a first logic level when each input receives a data signal having a logic low level and a second logic level when any input receives a data signal having a logic high level.

4. The data compression circuit of claim 3, wherein the first logic level of the first logic circuit is a logic high level and the second logic level of the first logic circuit is a logic low level.

5. The data compression circuit of claim 2, wherein the second logic circuit further comprises:

a plurality of inputs, wherein the inputs are coupled to receive data signals corresponding to the given bit location of each word of a group of words of the memory device; and

an output, wherein the output of the second logic circuit has a first logic level when each input receives a data signal having the logic high level and a second logic level when any input receives a data signal having the logic low level.

6. The data compression circuit of claim 5, wherein the first logic level of the second logic circuit is a logic low level and the second logic level of the second logic circuit is a logic high level.

7. A data compression circuit in a memory device, comprising:

for each word of a group of words of the memory device;

a first logic circuit for receiving data signals corresponding to a given bit location of each word of a group of words and for providing a first output signal indicative of whether each data signal has a first data value;

a second logic circuit for receiving the data signals corresponding to the given bit location of each word of that group of words of the memory device and for providing a second output signal indicative of whether each data signal has a second data value;

for each group of words of a plurality of words of the memory device;

a third logic circuit for receiving each of the first and second match signals corresponding to a group of words and for providing a first match signal and a second match signal, the first match signal having a first logic level and the second match signal having a second logic level when the first output signal indicates that each data signal has its first data value, the first match signal having the second logic level and the second match signal having the first logic level when the second output signal indicates that each data signal has its second data value, and the first and second match signals having the same logic level when the first match signal does not indicate that each data signal has its first data value and the second match signal does not indicate that each data signal has its second data value;

a fourth logic circuit for receiving the first match signals for each of the groups of words and for providing a third output signal indicative of whether each first match signal has its second logic level;

a fifth logic circuit for receiving the first match signals for each of the groups of words and for providing a fourth output signal indicative of whether each first match signal has its first logic level;

a sixth logic circuit for receiving the second match signals for each of the groups of words and for providing a fifth output signal indicative of whether each second match signal has its second logic level;

a seventh logic circuit for receiving the second match signals for each of the groups of words and for providing a sixth output signal indicative of whether each second match signal has its first logic level;

an eighth logic circuit for receiving each of the third, fourth, fifth and sixth output signals and for providing a third match signal having a first logic level if each of the third and fourth output signals have the same logic level and each of the fifth and sixth output signals have the same logic level.

8. The data compression circuit of claim 7, wherein the third logic circuit further comprises:

an inverter having an input coupled to receive the second output signal and having an output;

an XNOR gate having a first input coupled to receive the first output signal, a second input coupled to receive the second output signal, and an output;

a first AND gate having a first input coupled to receive the output of the inverter, a second input coupled to receive the output of the XNOR gate, and an output for providing the second match signal; and

a second AND gate having a first input coupled to receive the second output signal, a second input coupled to receive the output of the XNOR gate, and an output for providing the first match signal.

9. The data compression circuit of claim 7, wherein the first logic circuit further comprises:

a plurality of first buffer stages, each first buffer stage having an input coupled to receive a data signal for the given bit location of a word of the group of words of the memory device and having an output, wherein the outputs of the first buffer stages are commonly coupled to provide the first output signal and wherein each first buffer stage further comprises;

a first p-channel field-effect transistor having a gate coupled to the input of its first buffer stage, a source coupled to a first potential node, and a drain coupled to the output of its first buffer stage; and

a first n-channel field-effect transistor having a gate coupled to the input of its first buffer stage, a source coupled to a second potential node, and a drain coupled to the output of its first buffer stage;

wherein the first potential node is coupled to receive a first potential and the second potential node is coupled to receive a second potential lower than the first potential; and

wherein the first p-channel field-effect transistor is sized to have a conductance at activation that is lower than a conductance at activation for the first n-channel field-effect transistor.

10. The data compression circuit of claim 9, wherein the second logic circuit further comprises:

a plurality of second buffer stages, each second buffer stage having an input coupled to receive a data signal for the given bit location of a word of the group of words of the memory device and having an output, wherein the outputs of the second buffer stages are commonly coupled to provide the second output signal and wherein each second buffer stage further comprises;

a first p-channel field-effect transistor having a gate coupled to the input of its second buffer stage, a source coupled to a first potential node, and a drain coupled to the output of its second buffer stage; and

a first n-channel field-effect transistor having a gate coupled to the input of its second buffer stage, a source coupled to a second potential node, and a drain coupled to the output of its second buffer stage;

wherein the first potential node is coupled to receive a first potential and the second potential node is coupled to receive a second potential lower than the first potential; and

wherein the first p-channel field-effect transistor is sized to have a conductance at activation that is higher than a conductance at activation for the first n-channel field-effect transistor.

11. The data compression circuit of claim 9, wherein the first p-channel field-effect transistor of a second buffer stage has a smaller W/L ratio than the first n-channel field-effect transistor of the second buffer stage.

12. The data compression circuit of claim 11, wherein the first p-channel field-effect transistor of the second buffer stage has a W/L ratio of approximately 4/5 and the first n-channel field-effect transistor of the second buffer stage has a W/L ratio of approximately 20/1.

13. The data compression circuit of claim 10, wherein the first p-channel field-effect transistor of a first buffer stage has a larger W/L ratio than the first n-channel field-effect transistor of the first buffer stage.

14. The data compression circuit of claim 13, wherein the first p-channel field-effect transistor of the first buffer stage has a W/L ratio of approximately 40/1 and the first n-channel field-effect transistor of the first buffer stage has a W/L ratio of approximately 3/10.

15. The data compression circuit of claim 9, wherein each first buffer stage is coupled to receive a data signal corresponding to a different word of the group of words and wherein there is one first buffer stage for each word of the group of words.

16. The data compression circuit of claim 10, wherein each second buffer stage is coupled to receive a data signal corresponding to a different word of the group of words and wherein there is one second buffer stage for each word of the group of words.

17. The data compression circuit of claim 9, wherein the first potential node of a first buffer stage is coupled to receive a supply potential.

18. The data compression circuit of claim 9, wherein the second potential node of a first buffer stage is coupled to receive a ground potential.

19. The data compression circuit of claim 10, wherein the first potential node of a second buffer stage is coupled to receive a supply potential.

20. The data compression circuit of claim 10, wherein the second potential node of a second buffer stage is coupled to receive a ground potential.

21. The data compression circuit of claim 10, wherein the first potential node of each first buffer stage and the first potential node of each second buffer stage are each coupled to receive the same supply potential.

22. The data compression circuit of claim 10, wherein the second potential node of each first buffer stage and the second potential node of each second buffer stage are each coupled to receive the same ground potential.

23. The data compression circuit of claim 10, further comprising:

wherein each first buffer stage further comprises a second p-channel field-effect transistor coupled between the first potential node and the first p-channel field-effect transistor and a second n-channel field-effect transistor coupled between the second potential node and the first n-channel field-effect transistor;

wherein the second p-channel field-effect transistor has a gate coupled to receive a first enable signal; and

wherein the second n-channel field-effect transistor has a gate coupled to receive a second enable signal different from the first enable signal.

24. The data compression circuit of claim 23, wherein the second enable signal is the binary complement of the first enable signal.

25. The data compression circuit of claim 10, further comprising:

wherein each second buffer stage further comprises a second p-channel field-effect transistor coupled between the first potential node and the first p-channel field-effect transistor and a second n-channel field-effect transistor coupled between the second potential node and the first n-channel field-effect transistor;

wherein the second p-channel field-effect transistor has a gate coupled to receive a first enable signal; and

wherein the second n-channel field-effect transistor has a gate coupled to receive a second enable signal different from the first enable signal.

26. The data compression circuit of claim 25, wherein the second enable signal is the binary complement of the first enable signal.

27. The data compression circuit of claim 10, wherein the fourth logic circuit further comprises:

a plurality of first buffer stages, each first buffer stage having an input coupled to receive the first match signal for a group of words and having an output, wherein the outputs of the first buffer stages are commonly coupled.

28. The data compression circuit of claim 27, wherein the fifth logic circuit further comprises:

a plurality of second buffer stages, each second buffer stage having an input coupled to receive the first match signal for a group of words and having an output, wherein the outputs of the second buffer stages are commonly coupled.

29. The data compression circuit of claim 28, wherein the sixth logic circuit further comprises:

a plurality of first buffer stages, each first buffer stage having an input coupled to receive the second match signal for a group of words and having an output, wherein the outputs of the first buffer stages are commonly coupled.

30. The data compression circuit of claim 29, wherein the fifth logic circuit further comprises:

a plurality of second buffer stages, each second buffer stage having an input coupled to receive the second match signal for a group of words and having an output, wherein the outputs of the second buffer stages are commonly coupled.

31. A memory device, comprising:

a plurality of first level data compression circuits for receiving data signals corresponding to bit locations of each word of a group of words of the memory device and for providing a first match signal and a second match signal, the first match signal having a first logic level and the second match signal having a second logic level if a corresponding bit location for each word of the group has a first data value, the first match signal having the second logic level and the second match signal having the first logic level if the corresponding bit location for each word of the group has a second data value, and the first and second match signals otherwise having the same logic level;

a second level data compression for receiving the first and second match signals from each of the first level data compression circuits and for providing a third match signal having a first logic level if all of the first match signals have the same logic level and all of the second match signals have the same logic level, and otherwise having a second logic level; and

an output driver circuit for providing an output signal indicative of a data signal, wherein the output driver circuit is disabled when the third match signal has its first logic level.

32. The memory device of claim 31, wherein the output driver circuit is responsive to a second control signal and its data signal when the third match signal has the first logic level.

33. The memory device of claim 32, wherein the second control signal is a global output enable signal.

34. The memory device of claim 32, wherein the third match signal and the second control signal are combined as part of a global inhibit signal and the output driver circuit is responsive to the global inhibit signal.

35. A method of testing a memory device, comprising:

accessing a memory array of the memory device to generate data signals for two or more groups of words, each group of words comprising two or more words, each word comprising two or more bit locations;

comparing data signals for a given bit location of each word of a group of words for the two or more groups of words;

generating a first match signal and a second match signal for each group of words in response to the comparison of the data signals, each set of first and second match signals having a first logic level when each of the data signals for a given bit location has a first data value for each word of that group of words, each set of first and second match signals having a second logic level when each of the data signals for a given bit location has a second data value for each word of that group of words, and otherwise each set of first and second match signals having differing logic levels for that group of words;

comparing each of the first match signals and comparing each of the second match signals;

generating a third match signal in response to the comparison of the first match signals and the comparison of the second match signals, wherein the third match signal has a first logic level only when each of the first match signals has the same logic level and each of the second match signals has the same logic level;

disabling output for data signals corresponding to at least the given bit location if the third match signal has a second logic level;

attempting to read a word of the memory device; and

determining whether output is disabled for at least the given bit location, wherein disabled output is indicative of failure of the memory device.

36. The method of claim 35, wherein attempting to read a word of the memory device comprises attempting to read only one word of the memory device.

37. The method of claim 35, further comprising:

writing the repeating data pattern to the memory array prior to accessing the memory array.

38. The method of claim 37, wherein the repeating data pattern is a repeating pattern of all zeros.

39. The method of claim 37, wherein the repeating data pattern is a repeating pattern of all ones.

40. The method of claim 37, wherein the repeating data pattern is a checkerboard pattern.

41. The method of claim 37, wherein the repeating data pattern is a reverse checkerboard pattern.

42. The method of claim 35, further comprising:

repeating the method for additional groups of words of the memory device.