A BICS for CMOS OpAmps by Monitoring the Supply Current Peak

We present a Built-In-Current-Sensor (BICS) based on monitoring a signature of the supply current peak of CMOS OpAmps using the oscillation-test-strategy. The BICS takes a weighted sample of the current through two OpAmp current branches and monitors a signature of the peak value under oscillation. Two current-based comparators and some digital circuitry are used to provide a pass/fail flag. Simulation results demonstrate a high defect coverage with a very small impact both on the OpAmp nominal operation and the area overhead.

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