Patents by Inventor Marcus Mims

Marcus Mims has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Systems and methods for measuring soft errors and soft error rates in an application specific integrated circuit
    Patent number: 8145959
    Abstract: A test system includes a computer and an interface device for accessing a scan chain on an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC) under test. The computer includes a memory that contains application software that when executed by the computer quantifies soft errors and soft error rates (SER) in storage elements on the ASIC. The interface device receives commands and data from the computer, translates the commands and data from a first protocol to a second protocol and communicates the commands and data in the second protocol to the ASIC. A method for measuring SER in the ASIC includes baseline, comparison, and latch up accesses of data in a scan chain in the ASIC. Between accesses, the ASIC is exposed to a neutron flux that accelerates the occurrence of soft errors due to ionizing radiation upon the ASIC.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 23, 2009
    Date of Patent: March 27, 2012
    Assignee: Avago Technologies Enterprise IP (Singapore) Pte. Ltd.
    Inventors: Marcus Mims, J. Ken Patterson, Ronald W. Kee
  • SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR MEASURING SOFT ERRORS AND SOFT ERROR RATES IN AN APPLICATION SPECIFIC INTEGRATED CIRCUIT
    Publication number: 20110099440
    Abstract: A test system includes a computer and an interface device for accessing a scan chain on an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC) under test. The computer includes a memory that contains application software that when executed by the computer quantifies soft errors and soft error rates (SER) in storage elements on the ASIC. The interface device receives commands and data from the computer, translates the commands and data from a first protocol to a second protocol and communicates the commands and data in the second protocol to the ASIC. A method for measuring SER in the ASIC includes baseline, comparison, and latch up accesses of data in a scan chain in the ASIC. Between accesses, the ASIC is exposed to a neutron flux that accelerates the occurrence of soft errors due to ionizing radiation upon the ASIC.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 23, 2009
    Publication date: April 28, 2011
    Inventors: Marcus Mims, J. Ken Patterson, Ronald W. Kee