Accurate in-situ measurement of peak noise and signal delay induced by interconnect coupling

Interconnect models were proposed to translate the analog behavior of interconnect coupling noise into digital output and reveal the actual waveform without uncertainties arising from parasitics in direct probing. A4-metal layer test chip was fabricated to demonstrate the use of in-situ measurement technique to evaluate subnanosecond on-chip coupling effects. Time domain technique was used to measure the signal delay for a wide range comparator (WRC) circuit implemented to capture transient waveforms. The analysis suggested increase in the driver size and reduction in the peak delay change as well as the noise pulse width.