Cascaded sensing circuits for detecting and monitoring cracks in an integrated circuit

Embodiments of the disclosure provide a crack detecting and monitoring system, including: a plurality of electrically conductive structures extending about a protective barrier formed in an inactive region of an integrated circuit (IC), wherein an active region of the IC is enclosed within the prote...

Ausführliche Beschreibung

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Bibliographische Detailangaben
Hauptverfasser: Polomoff, Nicholas A, Xu, Dewei, Hunt-Schroeder, Eric D
Format: Patent
Sprache:eng
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Beschreibung
Zusammenfassung:Embodiments of the disclosure provide a crack detecting and monitoring system, including: a plurality of electrically conductive structures extending about a protective barrier formed in an inactive region of an integrated circuit (IC), wherein an active region of the IC is enclosed within the protective barrier; and a plurality of stages of sensing circuits connected in series for sensing a change in an electrical characteristic of each of the plurality of structures and for receiving an enable signal, wherein each sensing circuit is coupled to a respective structure of the plurality of structures, the change in the electrical characteristic indicating damage to the respective structure, wherein each sensing circuit includes a circuit for selectively generating the enable signal for a next sensing circuit in the plurality of stages of sensing circuits.