A built-in current monitor for testing analog circuit blocks
Sassan Tabatabaei, A. Ivanov · 2003
A novel built-in current (BIC) monitor circuit is proposed for supply current (I/sub DD/) measurement and testing of embedded analog circuits. The BIC monitor provides high current measurement sensitivity without introducing a large impedance in the I/sub DD/ path. It also includes a current integrator circuit which generates a digital signature proportional to the average I/sub DD/ (I~/sub D/~/sub D/~). The integrator uses only small capacitors (totaling 74 pF), 4 comparators, 14 switches and a counter to perform integration over a long time (1 ms) window and to digitize I~ /sub D/~/sub D/~. The monitor occupies a small area and is suitable for BIST applications on mixed-signal ICs.