Design for burn-in test: A technique for burn-in thermal stability under die-to-die parameter variations

Strong temperature dependence of leakage has been a major problem during burn-in test where increased voltages and temperatures are applied to weed out defective parts. Moreover, process variations may result in different temperature profiles in different dies during burn-in. This paper proposes an adaptive design-for-burn-in technique that stabilizes the junction temperature by controlling the leakage power using sleep (supply-gating) transistors for a wide range of ambient temperatures, process variations, thermal resistances and supply voltages.