| abstract |
System and method for detecting transistor failure in large-scale integrated circuits by measuring IDDQ. A preferred embodiment comprises a switch structure for an integrated circuit made up of a plurality of main switches (such as main switch 410 ) selectively coupling a power sub-domain to a power source pin, a plurality of pi-switches (such as pi-switch 415 ) selectively coupling pairs of power sub-domains, and a plurality of IDDQ switches (such as IDDQ switch 425 ) selectively coupling the power sub-domains to a VIDDQ pin. The pi-switches can decouple the power sub-domains while the IDDQ switches can enable the measurement of the quiescent current in the power sub-domains. The use of pi-switches and IDDQ switches can permit the measurement of the quiescent current in the power sub-domains without requiring the use of isolation buffers and needed to powering on and off the integrated circuit between current measurements in the different power sub-domains. |