A design and integration of Parametric Measurement Unit on to a 600MHz DCL

• Main Authors: Collins, E., In-Seok Jung, Yong-Bin Kim, Kyung Ki Kim
• Format: Conference Proceeding
• Language: English
• Subjects: and an active load; automated test equipment; Bandwidth; Capacitance; comparator; Current measurement; DCL; driver; Force; Force measurement; parametric measurement unit; Phasor measurement units; Voltage measurement
• DOI: 10.1109/ISOCC.2012.6406889

A design and integration of highly accurate Parametric Measurement Unit (PMU) with 600MHz Driver, Comparator, and an Active Load (DCL) is presented in this paper using 0.5um BiCMOS process. These circuits are necessary components of Automated Test Equipment (ATE) systems used to test ICs and are often referred to collectively as the Pin Electronics (PE). PMUs are high accuracy low bandwidth circuits that have to drive a range of capacitive loads. The need for high accuracy requires the use of feedback and high gain operational amplifiers. The trade-offs to be made in these circuits is between accuracy and settling time. Better accuracy requires higher gain which requires more aggressive compensation which increases settling time. A design approach that strikes a balance between DC accuracy and settling time is proposed. Design techniques are used to minimize the output capacitance of the PMU allowing its integration onto the 600MHz DCL in the circuit that affect the speed of the test path. The measured data from the fabricated chip shows the minimum open loop gain of 42dB for desired linearity error with 600pF capacitor pole compensation capacitor in high current range. The design has been successfully integrated on 1580um by 600um BiCMOS silicon area with less than 150uV measured voltage error and less than 0.001% measured current error.