Memory hub tester interface and method for use thereof

• US 7,823,024 B2
• Filed: 07/24/2007
• Issued: 10/26/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 06/04/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Micron Technology, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Micron Technology, Inc.
• Inventors: Jeddeloh, Joseph M.
• Primary Examiner(s): LE, DIEU MINH T
• Application Number:
  US11/880,961
• Publication Number:
  US 20070300105A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,190 Days
• Field of Search: 714/42, 714/54, 714/5, 714/48, 714/8
• US Class Current: 714/42
• CPC Class Codes: G11C 29/08 Functional testing, e.g. testing during refresh, power-on self testing [POST] or distributed testing
• CPC Class Codes: G11C 5/04 Supports for storage elements , e.g. memory modules; Mounting or fixing of storage elements on such supports

Abstract

A memory hub including a memory test bridge circuit for testing memory devices. Test command packets are coupled from a tester to the memory hub responsive to a test clock signal having a test clock frequency. The test bridge circuit generates memory device command, address, and data signals in accordance with the test command packets, and the memory device command, address, and data signals are provided to a memory device under test that is coupled to the memory hub responsive to a memory device clock signal having a memory device clock frequency.

Claims

1. A memory hub, comprising:

a memory test bridge circuit having a tester interface through which test command packets are received responsive to a test clock signal and further having a memory interface coupled to the tester interface through which memory commands corresponding to a test command packet are provided to at least one memory device responsive to a memory clock signal; and

an error detect circuit coupled to the memory test bridge circuit for comparing expected data received by the memory test bridge circuit to read data returned from the memory device in response to a memory command, the error detect circuit operable to generate in response to the comparison pass/fail data indicative of whether the read data matches the expected data.

2. The memory hub of claim 1 wherein the test command packet comprises at least one of:

a first packet including test command, test address, and test data signals, the test address signals representative of a memory device address and the test data signals representative of memory device data;

a second packet including test command and test address ALU opcode signals, the test address ALU opcode signals representative of at least one of arithmetic and logic operations performed to generate memory device address signals; and

test command and test data ALU opcode signals, the test data ALU opcode signals representative of at least one of arithmetic and logic operations performed to generate memory device data signals.

3. The memory hub of claim 1, further comprising a capture buffer coupled to the memory test bridge circuit, the capture buffer configured to capture data read from the memory device and provide the same when requested.

4. The memory hub of claim 1 wherein the memory test bridge circuit is coupled to a plurality of uplinks on which a plurality of test command packets are received by the memory test bridge concurrently.

5. The memory hub of claim 1 wherein the memory test bridge circuit includes a test address generator comprising:

a test address latch to latch test address information;

a test address arithmetic and logic unit (ALU) opcode latch to latch a test address ALU opcode included with the test command packet; and

a test address ALU coupled to the test address latch and the test address ALU opcode latch for performing at least one of arithmetic and logic operations on the test address information in accordance with the test address opcode.

6. The memory hub of claim 1 wherein the memory test bridge circuit includes a test data generator comprising:

a test data latch to latch test data information;

a test data arithmetic and logic unit (ALU) opcode latch to latch a test data ALU opcode included with the test command packet; and

a test data ALU coupled to the test data latch and the test data ALU opcode latch for performing at least one of arithmetic and logic operations on the test data information in accordance with the test data opcode.

7. The memory hub of claim 1 wherein the memory interface of the memory test bridge circuit comprises a memory device command latch, a memory device address latch and a memory device data latch for latching the memory device command, address, and data signals.

8. A memory module, comprising:

a plurality of memory devices;

a memory device bus coupled to the memory devices; and

a memory hub coupled to the memory device bus, the memory hub comprising;

a memory test bridge circuit having a tester interface through which test command packets are received responsive to a test clock signal and further having a memory interface coupled to the tester interface through which memory commands corresponding to a test command packet are provided to at least one memory device responsive to a memory clock signal; and

an error detect circuit coupled to the memory test bridge circuit for comparing expected data received by the memory test bridge circuit to read data returned from the memory device in response to a memory command, the error detect circuit operable to generate in response to the comparison pass/fail data indicative of whether the read data matches the expected data.

9. The memory module of claim 8 wherein the test command packet comprises at least one of:

a first packet including test command, test address, and test data signals, the test address signals representative of a memory device address and the test data signals representative of memory device data;

a second packet including test command and test address ALU opcode signals, the test address ALU opcode signals representative of at least one of arithmetic and logic operations performed to generate memory device address signals; and

test command and test data ALU opcode signals, the test data ALU opcode signals representative of at least one of arithmetic and logic operations performed to generate memory device data signals.

10. The memory module of claim 8 wherein the memory hub further comprises a capture buffer coupled to the memory test bridge circuit, the capture buffer configured to capture data read from the memory device and provide the same when requested.

11. The memory module of claim 8 wherein the memory test bridge circuit of the memory hub is coupled to a plurality of uplinks on which a plurality of test command packets are received by the memory test bridge concurrently.

12. The memory module of claim 8 wherein the memory test bridge circuit of the memory hub includes a test address generator comprising:

a test address latch to latch test address information;

a test address arithmetic and logic unit (ALU) opcode latch to latch a test address ALU opcode included with the test command packet; and

a test address ALU coupled to the test address latch and the test address ALU opcode latch for performing at least one of arithmetic and logic operations on the test address information in accordance with the test address opcode.

13. The memory module of claim 8 wherein the memory test bridge circuit of the memory hub includes a test data generator comprising:

a test data latch to latch test data information;

a test data arithmetic and logic unit (ALU) opcode latch to latch a test data ALU opcode included with the test command packet; and

a test data ALU coupled to the test data latch and the test data ALU opcode latch for performing at least one of arithmetic and logic operations on the test data information in accordance with the test data opcode.

14. The memory module of claim 8 wherein the memory interface of the memory test bridge circuit comprises a memory device command latch, a memory device address latch and a memory device data latch for latching the memory device command, address, and data signals.

15. A method for testing a memory device, comprising:

coupling test command packets from a tester to a memory hub responsive to a test clock signal having a test clock frequency;

generating in the memory hub memory device command, address, and data signals in accordance with the test command packets; and

coupling the memory device command, address, and data signals from the memory hub to a memory device under test responsive to a memory device clock signal having a memory device clock frequency.

16. The method of claim 15 wherein coupling test command packets from the tester to the memory hub comprises coupling test command, test address, and test data signals to the memory hub, the test address signals representative of a memory device address and the test data signals representative of memory device data.

17. The method of claim 15 wherein coupling test command packets from the tester to the memory hub comprises coupling test command signals, test address ALU opcode signals representative of at least one of arithmetic and logic operations performed to generate memory device address signals, and test data ALU opcode signals representative of at least one of arithmetic and logic operations performed to generate memory device data signals.

18. The method of claim 15 coupling test command packets from the tester to the memory hub comprises coupling a plurality of test command packets to the memory hub in parallel.

19. The method of claim 18 wherein generating memory device command, address, and data signals in accordance with the test command packets comprises selecting from the plurality of test command packets and generating memory device command, address, and data signals in accordance with the selected test command packet at a rate faster than the rate at which new test command packets are coupled to the memory hub in parallel.

20. The method of claim 15 wherein generating memory device address signals comprises performing at least one of arithmetic and logic operations in accordance with test address ALU opcodes included in the test command packets and wherein generating memory device data signals comprises performing at least one of arithmetic and logic operations in accordance with test data ALU opcodes included in the test command packets.

21. A method for testing a memory device, comprising:

providing test command packets to a memory hub in parallel for testing a memory device under test; and

for each command packet provided to the memory hub in parallel, generating in the memory hub memory device command, address, and data signals in accordance with the selected test command packet and providing the memory device command, address, and data signals to the memory device under test at a rate faster than which the test command packets are provided to the memory hub in parallel.

22. The method of claim 21 wherein providing test command packets from the tester to the memory hub comprises coupling test command, test address, and test data signals to the memory hub, the test address signals representative of a memory device address and the test data signals representative of memory device data.

23. The method of claim 21 wherein providing test command packets from the tester to the memory hub comprises coupling test command signals, test address ALU opcode signals representative of at least one of arithmetic and logic operations performed to generate memory device address signals, and test data ALU opcode signals representative of at least one of arithmetic and logic operations performed to generate memory device data signals.

24. The method of claim 21 wherein generating memory device address signals comprises performing at least one of arithmetic and logic operations in accordance with test address ALU opcodes included in the test command packets and wherein generating memory device data signals comprises performing at least one of arithmetic and logic operations in accordance with test data ALU opcodes included in the test command packets.