Proposal of standard characterization method for dynamic circuit performance

Abstract

A reliable characterization method is proposed for evaluating effective load capacitance, effective current drivability and effective leak current in dynamic operation. In this method, two test structures are utilized in order to make the evaluation reliable; one is an open-loop inverter array for extracting parameters, and the other is a conventional closed-loop ring oscillator for confirmation. The method is easily extended for general high-speed circuits such as emitter-coupled logic (ECL) and compound-semiconductor circuits. CMOS circuits are used in this study.<>