TWI840019B - Trimming device, electronic device having the same and trimming method which trims multiple devices under test at the same time - Google Patents

Abstract

A trimming device used in an electronic device has a pin configuration determination unit, a target electrical level receiving unit and a self-trimming unit. The pin configuration determining unit determines a trimming configuration of the electronic device according to a configuration signal of at least a first pin of the electronic device. The target electrical level receiving unit is used for receiving the target electrical level, wherein a type of the target electrical level corresponds to the trimming configuration. The self-trimming unit selects one of a first to K ^thfunctional devices in the electronic device according to the trim configuration, performs self-trimming on the selected functional device to find out a trim value which make the selected functional device be able to output an electrical value equal or similar to a target electrical level, and records the trim value, the trimming configuration and the target electrical level in a memory device.

Description

Trimming device, electronic device having the same, and trimming method for simultaneously trimming multiple devices under test

The present invention relates to a device under test (DUT) trimming technology, and in particular to a trimming device and method that can allow multiple electronic devices serving as multiple DUTs to perform self-trim simultaneously, and an electronic device using the trimming device or method.

Whether it is a discrete circuit or an integrated circuit, the same circuit will have an offset after leaving the factory due to process deviation during the manufacturing process. In addition to process deviation, differences in temperature and operating voltage will also cause the same circuit to have an offset. In order to deal with this offset, the circuit is generally trimmed. After the target electrical level (for example, target voltage value, target frequency value, target impedance value or target current value, etc.) is given, a trimming method (for example, binary approximation method) is used to find a trimming value (for example, bias voltage trimming value, bias current trimming value or impedance trimming value) so that the circuit can output an electrical value equal to the target electrical level (or output close to the target electrical level), and the trimming value and the corresponding target electrical level information are recorded in a memory device. In this way, the circuit can directly apply the trimming value compensation to achieve the output target electrical level the next time it is used.

Please refer to Figure 1, which is a flow chart of the trimming method of the prior art. The trimming method of the prior art is to provide a detection device, so that the device to be tested can be inserted into the detection device, and trimming is performed through the built-in trimming method of the detection device, and the trimming value is found to make the device to be tested output an electrical value close to or equal to the target electrical level, and the trimming value and the target electrical level are recorded in the memory device of the device to be tested. If the first to Nth devices to be tested are to be trimmed, steps S11, S12, ..., S1N need to be executed in sequence. In step S11, the first device to be tested is first inserted into the detection device, and then the detection device executes the binary approximation method to find the trimming value, and the trimming value and the target electrical level are written into the memory device of the first device to be tested. Steps S12 and S1N can be deduced in the same way, so they are not elaborated. In short, since the prior art trimming method trims the devices to be tested one by one, the required test time increases with the number of devices to be tested. However, the long test time will make the delivery time longer, so there is still a need for a trimming technology solution that can reduce the test time.

Based on at least one purpose of the present invention, an embodiment of the present invention provides a trimming device, which is used in an electronic device as a device to be tested, and includes a pin configuration determination unit, a target electrical level receiving unit, and a self-trimming unit. The pin configuration determination unit is electrically connected to at least one first pin of the electronic device, and is used to determine the trimming configuration of the electronic device according to the configuration signal of the first pin of the electronic device. The target electrical level receiving unit is electrically connected to the second pin of the electronic device, and is used to receive a target electrical level, wherein the target electrical level corresponds to the type of the trimming configuration. The self-trimming unit is electrically connected to the pin configuration determination unit, the target electrical level receiving unit, and the first to Kth functional devices and the memory device of the electronic device, wherein K is a positive integer greater than or equal to 2. The self-trimming unit selects one of the first to Kth functional devices according to the trimming configuration, and performs self-trimming on the selected functional device to find a trimming value so that the selected functional device can output an electrical value that is similar to or equal to the target electrical level, and records the trimming value, trimming configuration, and target electrical level in a memory device.

Based on at least one purpose of the present invention, an embodiment of the present invention provides an electronic device, and the electronic device includes any one of the above-mentioned trimming devices and first to Kth functional devices, wherein the memory device is included in the electronic device or the trimming device.

Based on at least one purpose of the present invention, an embodiment of the present invention provides a trimming method for trimming a plurality of devices under test at the same time, wherein each of the plurality of devices under test is the aforementioned electronic device, and the steps of the trimming method are as follows: inputting a configuration signal to the first pin of each electronic device; providing a target electrical level to each electronic device; allowing each electronic device to perform self-trim; and writing the trimming value, target electrical level and trimming configuration generated by the self-trim of each electronic device into a memory device of the electronic device.

In summary, the present invention allows the trimming device to be set in the electronic device, and can transmit the configuration signal and the target electrical level to each electronic device in parallel, thereby achieving the purpose of trimming multiple devices under test at the same time, and solving the technical problem that the prior art requires a long time to trim multiple electronic devices (Note: the time spent on trimming in the prior art is related to the number of electronic devices as the devices under test, but the present invention is not related to the number of electronic devices as the devices under test).

In order to further understand the technology, means and effects of the present invention, the following detailed description and drawings may be referred to, so that the purpose, features and concepts of the present invention can be thoroughly and specifically understood. However, the following detailed description and drawings are only used for reference and explanation of the implementation of the present invention, and are not used to limit the present invention.

Reference will now be made in detail to exemplary embodiments of the present invention, which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings. Where possible, the same reference numerals are used in the drawings and the specification to refer to the same or similar components. In addition, the exemplary embodiments are only one of the implementation methods of the design concept of the present invention, and the following examples are not intended to limit the present invention.

In order to solve the technical problems of the prior art, the present invention provides an electronic device having a trimming device and first to Kth functional devices, wherein K is a positive integer greater than or equal to 2. The trimming device has a self-trimming unit, which can select one of the first to Kth functional devices for self-trimming by configuring the pins of the trimming device to find a trimming value so that the selected functional device can output an electrical value that is similar to or the same as the target electrical level. Since the trimming device is installed in the electronic device and the configuration signal and the target electrical level can be transmitted to each electronic device in parallel, the purpose of trimming multiple devices under test at the same time is achieved, and the technical problem that it takes a long time to trim multiple electronic devices in the prior art is solved (Note: the time spent on trimming in the prior art is related to the number of electronic devices under test, but the present invention is not related to the number of electronic devices under test).

Please refer to Figure 2, which is a block diagram of an electronic device of an embodiment of the present invention. In Figure 2, the electronic device 3 includes a trimming device 30, first to Kth functional devices 341~34K and a memory device 35, where K is a positive integer greater than or equal to 2. Before the electronic device leaves the factory, it will be tested, that is, it will be trimmed as a device under test. The trimming device 30 includes a pin configuration determination unit 31, a target electrical level receiving unit 32 and a self-trimming unit 33. The pin configuration determination unit 31 is electrically connected to at least one configuration pin of the electronic device 3. The pin configuration determination unit 31 is used to receive the configuration signal of the configuration pin (the configuration signal of each configuration pin can be 0, 1 or high impedance, and represents different trimming configurations, but the present invention is not limited thereto) to determine the trimming configuration of the electronic device 3. Furthermore, in addition to indicating the type of target electrical level to be detected, the trimming configuration is also used to indicate the selected functional device (selected from the first to the Kth functional devices 341-34K). For example, the trimming configuration can indicate the selection of the first functional device 34 for the detection of the target voltage value, so as to obtain the trimming value that makes the first functional device 34 output an electrical value close to or equal to the target voltage value.

The target electrical level receiving unit 32 is electrically connected to the reference level pin of the electronic device 3, and is used to receive the target electrical level input to the reference level pin, wherein the type of the target electrical level corresponds to the trimming configuration. The target electrical level can be a target voltage value, a target current value, a target frequency value, or a target impedance value, and the present invention is not limited thereto. The target electrical level receiving unit 32 may include a buffer (not shown) and a noise filter (not shown) electrically connected to the buffer. The noise filter is used to filter out noise other than the target electrical level on the buffer reference level pin, and the buffer is used to buffer the target electrical level on the buffer reference level pin. In addition, in other embodiments, the target electrical level receiving unit 32 may be simply a good conductor that simply transmits the target electrical level.

The self-trim unit 33 is electrically connected to the pin configuration determination unit 31, the target electrical level receiving unit 32, the first to Kth functional devices 341-34K of the electronic device 3, and the memory device 35. The self-trim unit 33 selects one of the first to Kth functional devices 341-34K according to the trimming configuration, and performs self-trim on the selected functional device (for example, but not limited to the trimming of the binary approximation method, but can also be further based on the self-trim algorithm of the neural network architecture) to find the trimming value so that the selected functional device can output an electrical value that is close to or equal to the target electrical level, and records the trimming value, trimming configuration, and target electrical level in the memory device 35. In addition, the trimming value is a bias voltage trimming value, a bias current trimming value or an impedance trimming value, and the present invention is not limited thereto. For example, most electronic devices 3 have a resistance trimming device (not shown), so the impedance trimming value is a resistance trimming value.

Furthermore, in this embodiment, the self-trimming unit 33 compares the target electrical level (e.g., represented by the variable L_ref) with the electrical value output by the selected functional device (e.g., represented by the variable L_actual). When the absolute difference between the target electrical level L_ref and the electrical value L_actual output by the selected functional device |L_ref-L_actual| is greater than a difference threshold (e.g., represented by the variable delta_threshold), the trimming value trim_val is increased or decreased according to whether the target electrical level L_ref is greater than the electrical value L_actual output by the selected functional device.

Furthermore, in one embodiment, it is assumed that the electrical value L_actual output by the selected functional device and the trim value trim_val are positively correlated (i.e., the electrical value L_actual output by the selected functional device increases as the trim value trim_val increases). If the target electrical level L_ref is greater than the electrical value L_actual output by the selected functional device, the trim value trim_val is incremented by a differential trim value (e.g., represented by a variable delta_trim), i.e., trim_val=trim_val+delta_trim; if the target electrical level L_ref is less than or equal to the electrical value L_actual output by the selected functional device, the trim value trim_val is decremented by a differential trim value delta_trim, i.e., trim_val=trim_val-delta_trim. The self-trimming unit 33 will continuously adjust the trimming value trim_val until the absolute difference value |L_ref-L_actual| is less than the difference threshold value delta_threshold, and then decide to output the trimming value trim_val.

Furthermore, in one embodiment, it is assumed that the electrical value L_actual output by the selected functional device and the trim value trim_val are inversely related (i.e., the electrical value L_actual output by the selected functional device increases as the trim value trim_val decreases). If the target electrical level L_ref is greater than the electrical value L_actual output by the selected functional device, the trim value trim_val is decreased by a differential trim value delta_trim, i.e., trim_val=trim_val-delta_trim; if the target electrical level L_ref is less than or equal to the electrical value L_actual output by the selected functional device, the trim value trim_val is increased by a differential trim value, i.e., trim_val=trim_val+delta_trim. The self-trimming unit 33 will continuously adjust the trimming value trim_val until the absolute difference value |L_ref-L_actual| is less than the difference threshold value delta_threshold, and then decide to output the trimming value trim_val.

Furthermore, since the self-trimming unit 33 performs the above-mentioned comparison, the self-trimming unit 33 may have an analog comparator. However, one of the first to Kth functional devices 341-34K may already have an analog comparator, so in order to reduce the circuit surface area, the self-trimming unit 33 may be designed to use the analog comparator of one of the first to Kth functional devices 341-34K to compare the target electrical level with the electrical value output by the selected functional device (i.e., the analog comparator of one of the first to Kth functional devices 341-34K is shared by the self-trimming unit 33 and one of the first to Kth functional devices 341-34K).

On the other hand, although the memory device 35 is independent of the trimming device 30, in other embodiments, the memory device 35 may be a part of the trimming device 30, that is, the trimming device 30 includes the memory device 35. Furthermore, the memory device 35 may be a non-volatile memory device, such as a flash memory device, an erasable and programmable read-only memory, an electronically erasable and rewritable read-only memory, a solid state hard disk device, etc. When the memory device 35 is a non-volatile memory device, the trimming value, trimming configuration, and target electrical level are recorded in a macro block of the flash memory device. The stored trimming values, trimming configurations, and target electrical levels will not disappear due to power-on or power-off, but the stored trimming values, trimming configurations, and target electrical levels can be selectively retrieved and updated and stored due to specific events or according to a schedule. Furthermore, one of the first to Kth functional devices 341-34K is a reference voltage generating device, a low voltage dropout voltage regulator, an internal high-speed RC oscillator, or a filter device, and the present invention is not limited thereto.

Please refer to FIG. 3 , which is a schematic flow chart of a trimming method for trimming a plurality of devices under test at the same time according to an embodiment of the present invention. In the embodiment of the present invention, steps S21 to S2N in the trimming method are executed in parallel (simultaneously). In step S2i (Note: i is a positive integer from N, and N is a positive integer greater than or equal to 2), the description of each sub step is as follows. First, a target electrical level is given to the i-th device under test (that is, the i-th electronic device, wherein the structure of the i-th electronic device is the same as the electronic device 3 in FIG. 2 above), and further, the target electrical level is applied to the reference level pin of the i-th electronic device so that the target electrical level receiving unit of the i-th electronic device receives the target electrical level.

Then, the trimming configuration of the i-th electronic device is set by applying a configuration signal to the configuration pin of the i-th electronic device to select one of the multiple functional devices of the i-th electronic device. Afterwards, the i-th electronic device performs self-trim on the selected functional device in the i-th electronic device through its self-trim unit to find a trimming value so that the selected functional device outputs an electrical value that is close to or equal to the target electrical level. Finally, the above trimming value, trimming configuration and target electrical level are written into the memory device. In this way, if one of the functional devices of the i-th electronic device is to output an electrical value close to or the same as the above target electrical level in the future, the corresponding trimming value can be found through the recorded content of the memory device, so that it can smoothly output an electrical value close to or the same as the above target electrical level. It should be noted that the above-mentioned step of providing the target electrical level to the i-th electronic device and the step of setting the trimming state of the i-th electronic device can be interchanged with each other, and the present invention is not limited to the order of the steps.

In summary, the trimming device, method and electronic device provided by the embodiments of the present invention can allow multiple electronic devices to be trimmed simultaneously (or in parallel), thereby reducing the total time spent on trimming the electronic devices. Furthermore, the present invention selects one of the multiple functional devices as silicon intellectual property to be tested through the trimming configuration (through the input configuration signal), so the present invention does not need to use a detection device to provide a selection signal to test that functional device, and even does not need an additional detection device.

It should be understood that the examples and embodiments described herein are for illustrative purposes only and that various modifications or changes thereto will be suggested to those skilled in the art and are to be included within the spirit and scope of the present application and the scope of the appended claims.

S11~S1N, S21~S2N: Step 3: Electronic device 30: Trimming device 31: Pin configuration determination unit 32: Target electrical level receiving unit 33: Self-trimming unit 341: First functional device 342: Second functional device 34K: Kth functional device 35: Memory device

The accompanying drawings are provided to enable a person with ordinary knowledge in the art to which the present invention belongs to further understand the present invention, and are incorporated into and constitute a part of the specification of the present invention. The accompanying drawings show exemplary embodiments of the present invention, and are used together with the specification of the present invention to explain the principles of the present invention.

FIG. 1 is a flow chart of a prior art trimming method.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of an electronic device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG3 is a schematic flow chart of a trimming method for trimming a plurality of DUTs simultaneously according to an embodiment of the present invention.

3: Electronic devices

30: Trimming device

31: Pin configuration determination unit

32: Target electrical level receiving unit

33: Self-repair unit

341: First functional device

342: Second functional device

34K: Kth functional device

35: Memory device

Claims (10)

A trimming device (30) is used in an electronic device (3) as a device to be tested, comprising: a pin configuration determination unit (31) electrically connected to at least a first pin of the electronic device (3) and used to determine a trimming configuration of the electronic device (3) according to a configuration signal of the first pin of the electronic device (3); a target electrical level receiving unit (32) electrically connected to a second pin of the electronic device (3) and used to receive a target electrical level, wherein a type of the target electrical level corresponds to the trimming configuration; and A self-trimming unit (33) is electrically connected to the pin configuration determination unit (31), the target electrical level receiving unit (32), and a first to Kth functional device (341-34K) of the electronic device (3) and a memory device (35), wherein K is a positive integer greater than or equal to 2; wherein the self-trimming unit (33) selects one of the first to Kth functional devices (341-34K) according to the trimming configuration, and performs a self-trimming on the selected functional device to find a trimming value so that the selected functional device can output an electrical value that is similar to or equal to the target electrical level, and records the trimming value, the trimming configuration, and the target electrical level in the memory device (35). A trimming device (30) as described in claim 1, wherein the target electrical level is a target voltage value, a target current value, a target frequency value or a target impedance value. A trimming device (30) as described in claim 1, wherein the trimming value is a bias voltage trimming value, a bias current trimming value or an impedance trimming value. A trimming device (30) as described in claim 1, wherein the self-trimming unit (33) compares the target electrical level with the electrical value output by the selected functional device, and when an absolute value of a difference between the target electrical level and the electrical value output by the selected functional device is greater than a difference threshold value, determines to increase or decrease the trimming value according to whether the target electrical level is greater than the electrical value output by the selected functional device, and when the absolute value of the difference is less than the difference threshold value, determines and outputs the trimming value. A trimming device (30) as described in claim 1, wherein the self-trimming unit (33) uses an analog comparator in the first to Kth functional devices (341-34K) to compare the target electrical level with the electrical value output by the selected functional device. The trimming device (30) as described in claim 1, wherein the trimming device (30) further includes the memory device (35). The trimming device (30) as described in claim 1, wherein the memory device (35) is a flash memory device, and the trimming value, the trimming configuration, and the target electrical level are recorded in a macro block of the flash memory device. An electronic device (3), comprising: a trimming device (30) as described in any one of claims 1 to 7; and the first to Kth functional devices (341-34K); wherein the memory device (35) is included in the electronic device (3) or the trimming device (30). An electronic device (3) as described in claim 8, wherein one of the first to Kth functional devices (341-34K) is a reference voltage generating device, a low voltage dropout regulator device, an internal high-speed RC oscillator device or a filter device. A trimming method for trimming a plurality of devices to be tested simultaneously, wherein each of the devices to be tested is the electronic device (3) as described in claim 8, and the trimming method comprises: Inputting the configuration signal to the first pin of each of the electronic devices (3); Giving the target electrical level to each of the electronic devices (3); Making each of the electronic devices (3) perform the self-trim; and Writing the trimming value, the target electrical level and the trimming configuration generated by the self-trim of each of the electronic devices (3) into the memory device (35) of the electronic device (3).

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