Method and apparatus for light-controlled circuit characterization

DETAILED DESCRIPTION Principles of the present invention provide light-controlled circuit characterization techniques.
For example, in one aspect of the invention, a technique for testing an integrated circuit includes the following steps/operations.
At least a portion of the integrated circuit is stimulated with a light source so as to affect one or more electrical characteristics associated with the integrated circuit.
Optical emissions are captured from at least one of the portion of the integrated circuit stimulated by the light source and one or more portions of the integrated circuit associated with the stimulated portion.
That is, by way of example, optical emissions may be captured from the stimulated portion of the integrated circuit and/or a circuit logic cone fed by the stimulated portion.
The optical emissions are associated with one or more switching operations of one or more components of the integrated circuit.
At least a portion of the captured optical emissions is processed to provide information about the integrated circuit.
The stimulating step/operation may be a synchronous stimulating step/operation wherein the stimulating step/operation is at least partially synchronized with the processing step/operation.
In an asynchronous stimulating step/operation, the stimulating step is not at least partially synchronized with the processing step.
Further, a particular component of the integrated circuit may be stimulated with a light source so as to affect one or more electrical characteristics associated with the component.
The technique may include causing a change to one or more electrical characteristics associated with a component of the integrated circuit.
This may be done electro-optically (e.
g.
, generating carriers to charge a node or create a current) or thermally.
Still further, the stimulating step/operation may include changing a wavelength, an amplitude, and/or a duration associated with the light source so as to change an effect on the one or more electrical characteristics associated with the integrated circuit