Thermal coupling in integrated circuits: application to thermal testing

The power dissipated by the devices of a circuit can be construed as a signature of the circuit's performance and state. Without disturbing the circuit operation, this power consumption can be monitored by temperature measurements of the silicon die surface via built-in differential temperature sensors. In this paper, dynamic and spatial thermal behavioral characterization of VLSI MOS devices is presented using laser thermoreflectance measurements and on-chip differential temperature sensing circuits. A discussion of the application of built-in differential temperature measurements as an IC test strategy is also presented.