(19) United States
(12) Patent Application Publication (io) Pub. No.: US 2001/0020283 Al
Sakaguchi (43) Pub. Date: Sep. 6,2001
(54) METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR
SAMPLING A POWER SUPPLY CURRENT
OF AN INTEGRATED CIRCUIT, AND
STORAGE MEDIUM ONTO WHICH IS
RECORDED A CONTROL PROGRAM
THEREFOR
(75) Inventor: Kazuhiro Sakaguchi, Tokyo (JP)
Correspondence Address:
David A. Blumenthal
FOLEY & LARDNER
Washington Harbour
3000 K Street, N.W, Suite 500
Washington, DC 20007-5109 (US)
(73) Assignee: NEC CORPORATION
(21) Appl. No.: 09/796,451
(22) Filed: Mar. 2, 2001
(30) Foreign Application Priority Data
Mar. 3, 2000 (JP) 2000-59090
Publication Classification
(51) Int. CI.7 G06F 11/30
(52) U.S. C I 714 22
(57) ABSTRACT
An apparatus for sampling a power supply current value for performing frequency analysis of the power supply current flowing in an integrated circuit with a test signal applied to the integrated circuit has a power supply generating a prescribed supply of power for the integrated circuit (DUT: device under test), a current detection means for observing the power supply current value supplied from the power supply to the DUT, a test signal generation means for generating a prescribed test signal to be applied to an input/output terminal other than a power supply terminal of the DUT and for generating a test signal application signal during application of the test signal to the DUT, a sampling means for sampling the power supply current value signal, a sampling time determining means for instructing the sampling means with regard to the start and end timing for sampling, based on the test signal application signal, a sampling data storage means for storing data sampled by the sampling means, a Fourier transform means for performing a Fourier transformation calculation on the sampled data, and a main control means for outputting instructions to various other means and performing overall apparatus control.
