Process monitor for monitoring and compensating circuit performance

• US 7,375,540 B2
• Filed: 10/14/2004
• Issued: 05/20/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 12/02/2002
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Avago Technologies International Sales Pte Limited (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Broadcom Corporation (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Inventors: Gomez, Ramon A., Burns, Lawrence M., Dauphinee, Leonard, Chang, James Y. C.
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen; Ha Tran
• Assistant Examiner(s): Chan; Emily Y
• Application Number:
  US10/963,639
• Publication Number:
  US 20050062491A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,314 Days
• Field of Search: 324763-765, 324/769, 324/158.1, 324/73.1, 714720-738, 257/48, 438 14- 18
• US Class Current: 324/750.3
• CPC Class Codes: G01R 31/2607 Circuits therefor G01R31/2642 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G01R 31/30 Marginal testing, e.g. by varying supply voltage testing computers during standby operation or idle time G06F11/22
• CPC Class Codes: G01R 31/31723 Hardware for routing the test signal within the device under test to the circuits to be tested, e.g. multiplexer for multiple core testing, accessing internal nodes routing the test signal to or from the device under test G01R31/31926
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 22/20 Sequence of activities consisting of a plurality of measurements, corrections, marking or sorting steps
• CPC Class Codes: H03F 3/211 using a combination of several amplifiers H03F3/60 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/4446 IF amplifier circuits specially adapted for B&W TV RF amplifiers in general H03F3/189
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/52 Automatic gain control
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/102 Circuits therefor, e.g. noise reducers, equalisers, amplifiers H04N7/108 takes precedence

Abstract

A method and system for monitoring and compensating the performance of an operational circuit is provided. The system includes one or more integrated circuit chips and a controller. Each integrated circuit chip includes one or more operational circuits, each operational circuit having at least one controllable circuit parameter. Each integrated circuit chip also includes a process monitor module at least partially constructed thereon. The controller is coupled to each process monitor module and to each operational circuit. The controller includes logic for evaluating the performance of an operational circuit based on data obtained from process monitor module and operational circuit related data stored in a memory. Based on the evaluation, the controller determines whether any deviations from desired or optimal performance of the circuit exist. If deviations exist, the controller generates a control signal to initiate adjustments to the operational circuit to compensate for the deviations.

Claims

1. A system for monitoring and compensating the performance of an operational circuit constructed on an integrated circuit chip, comprising:

one or more operational circuits constructed on the integrated circuit chip, wherein each operational circuit has one or more controllable operational circuit parameters;

a process monitor module at least partially constructed on the integrated circuit chip, wherein the process monitor module generates at least one digitized sense signal indicative of one or more process-dependent integrated circuit parameters; and

a controller coupled to the process monitor module and each operational circuit, wherein the controller includes;

a monitoring processor that determines a value of one or more process-dependent integrated circuit parameters based on the at least one digitized sense signals, and

a compensation processor that evaluates the performance of the one or more operational circuits based on the values of the one or more integrated circuit parameters, determines at least one adjustment to the one or more controllable operational circuit parameters, and generates a control signal to initiate the determined at least one adjustment.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the compensation processor further includes a memory.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the memory stores operational circuit specific data and optimal performance data for each operational circuit.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the controller is at least partially constructed on the integrated circuit chip.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the monitoring processor includes:

a process-based parameter module;

a temperature module; and

a supply voltage module.

6. The system of claim 1, further comprising a control module that controls communication among the process monitor module, the controller, and the one or more operational circuits.

7. A system for monitoring and compensating the performance a plurality of operational circuits, comprising:

a plurality of integrated circuit chips, wherein each integrated circuit chip includes at least one of the plurality of operational circuits;

a plurality of process monitor modules, wherein each integrated circuit chip has a process monitor module at least partially constructed on the integrated circuit chip, wherein the process monitor module generates at least one digitized sense signal indicative of one or more process-dependent integrated circuit parameters; and

a controller coupled to each of the plurality of process monitor modules and to each of the plurality of operational circuits wherein the controller includes;

a monitoring processor for determining a value of one or more process-dependent integrated circuit parameters based on the at least one digitized sense signals, and

a compensation processor wherein the compensation processor evaluates the performance of the operational circuit parameters based on the values of the one or more process-dependent integrated circuit parameters, determines at least one adjustment to one or more digitally controllable operational circuit parameters, and generates a control signal to initiate the determined at least one adjustment.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein the compensation processor further includes a memory.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the memory stores operational circuit specific data and optimal performance data for each operational circuit.

10. The system of claim 7, wherein the controller is at least partially constructed on one of the plurality of integrated circuit chips.

11. A method of compensating the performance of an operational circuit constructed on an integrated circuit chip, comprising:

determining at least one data element required to perform compensation processing;

requesting one or more sense signals from a process monitor module implemented on the integrated circuit chip, wherein each sense signal represents a corresponding process-dependent integrated circuit chip parameter;

receiving at least one digitized sense signal from the process monitor module, each digitized sense signal representing a corresponding one of the requested sense signals;

determining a value for the at least one data element using the at least one digitized sense signals;

determining, based on the at least one data element, an adjustment to the operational circuit;

generating a control signal indicative of the adjustment; and

communicating the control signal to the operational circuit.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising the step of initiating compensation processing for the operational circuit.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein initiating compensation processing for the operational circuit includes automatically initiating compensation processing upon powering of the operational circuit.

14. The method of claim 12, wherein initiating compensation processing for the operational circuit includes automatically initiating compensation processing upon the occurrence of an event.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the event is the passage of a predefined period of time.

16. The method of claim 12, wherein initiating compensation processing for the operational circuit includes initiating compensation processing in response to a request input via a user interface.

17. The method of claim 11, wherein the determining an adjustment includes:

retrieving operational circuit specific data and performance data from a memory; and

determining, based on the determined value of the at least one data element and the stored circuit specific data, one or more deviations from the stored optimal performance data of the operational circuit.

18. The method of claim 11, wherein generating a control signal indicative of the adjustment includes:

determining at least one circuit parameter of the operational circuit that is controllable;

determining the adjustment to the at least one controllable circuit parameter to compensate for the determined deviation from the stored performance data; and

determining a value of the control signal to initiate the adjustment in the operational circuit.