Monitor circuitry and method for testing analog and/or mixed signal integrated circuits

Abstract

Monitor circuitry for identifying an operational status of a device under test (DUT) includes a comparison circuit and a sense amplifier. The comparison circuit comprises a set of control transistors and a set of sense transistors. The control transistors include control input terminals for receiving reference signals to establish a testing condition with respect to a signal relationship between a first current flow and a second current flow. The sense transistors are operatively associated with the control transistors, such that biasing the sense input terminals of the sense transistors with sampled signals received from the DUT varies the signal relationship between the first current flow and the second current flow. The variation in the signal relationship is accelerated by the sense amplifier. The variation in the signal relationship is indicative of the operational status of the DUT at the sampling instance for acquiring the sampled signals.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.