An otherwise well-known ratiometric Built-In Current Sensor (BICS) dedicated to monitor the current of analog and mixed-signal building blocks highlights a dependency with regards to technology discrepancy. In this paper we present a design methodology that allows to dramatically reduce the dependency, yielding to a new version of this BICS. Taking advantage of a 130 nm VLSI CMOS technology, the BICS proposed has a peak-to-peak dispersion lower than 10 % of its output full-scale range. It makes it more suitable to implement the test functionality while maintaining the initial BICS intrinsic performances. The built-in self test methodology is illustrated by monitoring the supply current of a Low-Noise Amplifier (LNA). Measurements confirm the BICS?s low sensitivity to process variations and its transparency relative to the circuit under test (CUT).
Index Terms:
Design for testability - Built-In current sensor - Analog and mixed-signal integrated circuits - CMOS technology - Robustness.
Citation:
M. Cimino, H. Lapuyade, M. De Matos, T. Taris, Y. Deval, JB. B?gueret, "A Robust 130nm-CMOS Built-In Current Sensor Dedicated to RF Applications," ets, pp.151-158, Eleventh IEEE European Test Symposium (ETS'06), 2006