JP2870902B2 - Drive pattern generator - Google Patents

Description

Description: BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a driving pattern generator used for testing a solid-state imaging device made of a semiconductor.

"Prior art" As is well known, a solid-state image sensor is composed of a photoelectric conversion element of 200,000 to 400,000 pixels on one screen, and the amount of photoelectric conversion of each pixel is externally determined using a horizontal blanking period and a vertical blanking period. And an image signal is obtained.

Therefore, in order to operate the solid-state imaging device, various drive pulses are given in synchronization with the horizontal scan and the vertical scan, and the photoelectric conversion amount of each pixel is sequentially taken out to the outside by a plurality of drive pulses.

FIGS. 3 and 4 show examples of the driving pulse. FIG. 3 shows the entire driving pulse including vertical blanking, and FIG. 4 shows the driving pulse required for one horizontal scan.

As can be seen from the figure, each timing 3T _V1 , T _V2 , T _V3 … and
The relationship between the drive pulses changes for each of T _H1 , T _H2 , T _H3 ...
The operation of extracting the image signal is performed by the change.

When testing a solid-state image sensor, it is necessary to test an image sensor having various standards different from each other.For this reason, a drive pulse is patterned in a portion for generating a drive pulse, and a drive pulse having an arbitrary pattern is formed at an arbitrary timing. It is configured to be able to output.

FIG. 2 shows a conventional driving pulse generator. In the figure, reference numeral 10 denotes a pattern generator for generating a driving pulse pattern. The pattern generator 10 includes a program counter 11 and
It is composed of a control file memory 12, an instruction decoder 13, and a pattern file memory 14.

Control file memory 12 is a program counter
The instruction to be accessed by the address stored in 11 and to be executed next is read.

The instruction read from the control file memory 12 is decoded by the instruction decoder 13 and outputs an address for reading the next instruction to be executed. This address is manually input to the program counter 11, and this address is supplied to the control file memory 12 to read the next instruction.

The instructions written in the control file memory 12 in this manner are sequentially read, and the pattern file memory 14
Generate a pattern generation instruction to be given to.

The pattern file memory 14 generates an address signal in accordance with a pattern generation command output from the program counter 11, reads out pattern data by using the address signal, and supplies the pattern data to the waveform generator 20. The drive pulse waveforms shown in FIGS. 3 and 4 are generated.

The drive pulse generated by the waveform generator 20 is amplified by the drive circuit 30, and is manually input to each terminal of the device under test 40.

“Problem to be Solved by the Invention” The conventional pattern generator 10 includes a program counter 11,
The operation is performed by reading out the pattern data one step at a time by a closed loop including the control file memory 12 and the command decoder 13.

When rewriting the pattern data written in the pattern file memory 14, the pattern data generating operation is temporarily stopped, the mode is switched to the write mode, and the data in the pattern file memory 14 is rewritten.

After rewriting the data in the pattern file memory 14, return to the pattern generation operation state again, and use a waveform observer such as an oscillograph at each pin of the device under test to determine whether the drive pulse waveform is the desired waveform. It is necessary to connect and confirm.

In order to change the waveform of the drive signal, the generation of the pattern data must be temporarily stopped, and whether the waveform of the rewritten pin has been changed to the desired broken shape after the restart of the operation. The preparation for starting the test is made by both the determinations.

As described above, conventionally, the waveform generation operation is stopped, the pattern data is rewritten, and the waveform data is confirmed by restarting. Thus, there is a disadvantage that a lot of labor and time are required for preparation before the start of the test.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to easily perform an operation of rewriting a part of data written in a pattern file memory, and to perform a rewriting without stopping generation of pattern data. It is intended to provide a pattern generator.

[Means for Solving the Problems] In the present invention, there is provided a driving pattern generating apparatus for reading pattern data from a pattern file memory and transmitting the pattern data to a waveform generator to generate a driving pulse to be applied to each pin of the solid-state imaging device. A data register for providing new pattern data to be rewritten to the data input terminal of the pattern file memory, an address register for storing address information to be rewritten to the new pattern data, an address stored in this address register, and a A match detector for detecting a match with a given address; and when the match detector detects an address match, a write command is given to the pattern file memory, and the new data stored in the data register is written to the pattern file memory. A write signal generator It is to propose a signal switch providing over emissions file directly a pattern data to sort newly written accumulated in the pattern data register while a write command signal is given to the waveform generator, a structure provided with.

According to the configuration of the present invention, while reading pattern data from the pattern file memory, if the read address matches the rewriting address, the write signal generator generates a write command signal, and the write command signal is The data is applied to the read / write terminal of the pattern file memory, and new data is written to the address of the pattern file memory 14 where the data is desired to be rewritten by the write command signal, and the data is rewritten.

At the same time, while writing to the pattern file memory 14 is being performed, new pattern data is directly output to the waveform generator by switching the signal switch.

Therefore, the pattern data can be continuously supplied to the waveform generator even during the data rewriting operation to the pattern file memory. As a result, the pattern file memory can be rewritten while the waveform generation operation is continued without stopping the generation of the drive signal.

In addition, since the data in the pattern file memory can be rewritten while maintaining the state in which the drive signal is applied to the solid-state imaging device, it is possible to observe in real time the driving waveform generated by the newly rewritten pattern data by an oscillograph. it can. As a result, it is possible to immediately confirm whether or not the drive pulse waveform is a predetermined waveform.

Therefore, the advantage that the preparation for the test can be completed in a short time is obtained. Further, the pattern can be changed as needed even during the test.

FIG. 1 shows an embodiment of the present invention. In the figure, 15 is a program counter 11, a control file memory 12,
The pattern generation command source constituted by the command decoder 13 is shown.

The pattern generation command output from the pattern generation command source 15 is input to the pattern file counter 14A, and the pattern file counter 14A generates an address signal for accessing the pattern file memory 14.

The address signal output from the pattern file counter 14A is applied to the address input terminal of the pattern file memory 14.
The pattern data is output from the pattern file memory 14 to the AD.

The rewritten new pattern data is sent from the controller 60 and stored in the data register 51. As the new pattern data stored in the data register 51, data to be provided to all pins of the solid-state imaging device is prepared, and a part of the data is rewritten to a desired pattern.

At the same time as storing new pattern data in the data register 51, the address information to be rewritten is stored in the address information register 53 from the controller 60. This address information is compared with the address signal output from the pattern file counter 14A by the coincidence detector 54, and a coincidence state is detected.

When the match detector 54 detects a match, the write signal generator 55
In is converted to a write command signal synchronized with the clock CK _1, the write command signal pattern file memory 14 read /
It is applied to a write terminal WE to write new pattern data into the pattern file memory 14.

While new pattern data is being written to the pattern file memory 14, the signal switch 14B
The signal is switched to the input terminal B by the coincidence detection signal of 4, and new pattern data output from the data register 51 is directly supplied to the waveform generator 20 by this switching.

Therefore, when the pattern file memory 14 is rewriting the pattern data, new pattern data is supplied from the data register 51 to the waveform generator 20, so that the driving pattern is not cut off, and therefore the driving pattern generation state is maintained. Rewriting of the pattern data can be performed in the state in which the pattern data is written.

When the rewriting to the pattern file memory 14 is completed, the signal switch 14B switches to the input terminal A, and gives the pattern data continued from the pattern file memory 14 to the waveform generator 20.

[Effects of the Invention] As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to rewrite pattern data while maintaining the state of occurrence of a drive pattern.

As a result, it is possible to rewrite the pattern data in real time while observing the waveform of the drive pulse applied to each pin of the solid-state imaging device with a waveform observation device such as an oscillograph, and also observe the rewriting result in real time. it can. Therefore, the result of the rewriting of the pattern data can also be known in a short time, and the advantage that the preparation required for the test can be completed in a short time can be obtained.

Since the pattern can be changed without stopping the generation of the waveform, the pattern data can be rewritten even during the test.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a block diagram for explaining a conventional technique, and FIG.
FIG. 4 and FIG. 4 are waveform diagrams showing an example of the drive pattern signal. 11: Program counter, 12: Control file memory, 13: Instruction decoder, 14: Pattern file memory, 51: Data register, 53: Address information register, 54: Match detector, 5
5: Write signal generator, 14B, 63: Signal switch.

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] 1. An instruction read from a control file memory is decoded by an instruction decoder, a result of the decoding is given to a program counter, and an address for reading an instruction to be executed at the next timing in the program counter. A signal is generated, the address signal is applied to the control file memory, the instruction is read out again from the control file memory, the operation is repeated, and the pattern generation instruction is read out in the order stored in the control file memory, and the pattern generation An instruction is given to the pattern file memory, pattern data for driving the solid-state imaging device is read from the pattern file memory, and the pattern data is sent to a waveform generator to generate a driving waveform to be applied to each pin of the solid-state imaging device. Drive pattern generator B. a data register for providing new pattern data to the data input terminal of the pattern file memory; C. an address register for storing address information to be rewritten to the new pattern data; D. an address stored in this address register; E. a match detector that detects a match with an address given to the pattern file memory; and E. when the match detector detects an address match, gives a write command to the pattern file memory, and writes a new command stored in the data register. F. a write signal generator for writing data to the pattern file memory; and F. new pattern data stored in the pattern data register to the waveform generator while a write command signal is given to the pattern file memory. A drive pattern generation device comprising: a signal switch for directly supplying a signal;