The effects of Built-In Current Sensors (BICS) on IDDQ
measurements as well as on the
performance of the circuit under test are considered. Most of the Built-In Current Sensor
designs transform the ground terminal of the circuit under test into a virtual ground. This
causes increases in both propagation delay and IDDQ
sampling time with the increase in the
number of gates, affecting both test as well as operational performance. The effects that
current sensors have on the operational and test performance of a circuit are considered.
Circuit partitioning may be used for overcoming the effects of BICS on IDDQ
measurements
as well as on the performance of the circuit under test.