JPS6316712A - Timing automatic correcting method for pulse generator - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To attain the inexpensive method with high accuracy by using a ring oscillator oscillating a timing delay quantity and detecting the delay quantity from the change in the oscillated frequency so as to eliminate the need for a linear change in the delay of a delay adjusting device. CONSTITUTION:A ring oscillation control section 6 building-in a frequency counter is provided between an output of a delay adjusting device 4 and an input of the device 4 via a switch 5, an output of the delay adjusting device 4 is fed back to the input to form a ring oscillation circuit, and its oscillated frequency is measured by a frequency counter to calculate the timewise delay accurately based on the measurement. At this time, to feed back the output of the delay adjusting device 4 to its input, it has only to be executed with further delay or pulse width shaping as required. Further, since the switch 5 is not normally thrown to the position of the frequency divider 3, the feedback path is used only when the delay of the delay adjusting device 4 is measured.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention provides a pulse generator timing automatic correction method for automatically adjusting the timing of a large number of pulse generators in a device such as an IC tester that incorporates a large number of pulse generators. In particular, the present invention relates to a method of creating a necessary delay time by accurately measuring the amount of delay of a delay adjuster that controls the time delay in an electronic pulse generator.

[Conventional technology]

Conventionally, a pulse generator (also called a timing generator) used in a general IC tester etc. has a block configuration as shown in FIG. 2, which includes a controller 1, an oscillator 2 using a crystal resonator, It includes a frequency divider 3 and a delay adjuster 4. Then, the controller 1 sets the branching device 3, and using the periodic pulse 8 shown in FIG. 3(b) outputted from the oscillator 2 as a start signal, the oscillation signal 7 shown in the figure (&) is sent to the dividing device 3. After dividing the frequency (counting down to O value), the division pulse 9 shown in FIG. Next, the signal is input to the delay adjuster 4, and by passing it through a delay line or the like, the desired output pulse 10 as shown in FIG. 3(d) is obtained.
It is designed to create

[Problem that the invention seeks to solve]

However, with this conventional timing generation method, the timing accuracy is very good up to the output of the frequency divider 3, but
If the signal is passed through the delay adjuster 4, this accuracy will deteriorate. In other words, if the frequency divider 3 divides the output of a crystal oscillator, the accuracy can be kept below ±0.001%, but the delay adjuster 4 passes a delay line, etc., so even if finely adjusted, the accuracy will be ±1%.
% or more. Additionally, there was a problem in that it was vulnerable to temperature fluctuations.

This invention was made to solve the above-mentioned problems, and it is possible to improve the timing setting accuracy to ±0.01 or less, eliminate @adjustment work, and improve timing stability. With the goal.

[Failure to solve the problem]

In the automatic timing correction method for a pulse generator according to the present invention, a ring oscillation circuit is formed by feeding back the output of a delay adjuster of a timing generation section to its input section, and a temporal difference is determined from the oscillation frequency of this ring oscillation circuit. By accurately calculating the amount of delay, the amount of delay is adjusted to be as close to the required delay time as possible, and the timing signal is output.

[Effect]

By forming the feedback path in the present invention as a ring oscillation circuit including a delay adjuster, the amount of delay can be easily measured with high precision.

〔Example〕

An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIG.

In the embodiment shown in FIG. 1, a controller 1 that controls the entire pulse generator, an oscillator 2 that generates an oscillation signal with a constant period and also outputs periodic pulses with a constant period based on the oscillation signal, and a counter. The construction of a frequency converter 3 and a delay adjuster 4 is similar to that of the conventional example shown in FIG. A ring oscillation control section 6 with a built-in frequency counter is provided through the circuit, and the output of the delay adjuster 4 is fed back to its input section to form a ring oscillation circuit, so that the oscillation frequency can be measured by the frequency counter. , based on which the amount of time delay is accurately calculated.

At this time, in order to feed back the output of the delay adjuster 4 to its input section, it may be further delayed and pulse width shaping may be performed as necessary.

Further, this feedback path is not normally used by connecting the switching device 5 to the branching device 3 side, but is used only when measuring the amount of delay of the delay adjuster 4. In addition, in the figure,
The same reference numerals indicate the same or equivalent parts.

The operation of the pulse generator of the embodiment is basically the same as the conventional one described above, in which the frequency divider 3 is set by the controller 1, and the periodic pulse 8 (third
The frequency of the oscillation signal T (FIG. 3(a)) is divided using FIG. 2(b) as a start signal. Then.

These oscillation signals 7 and periodic pulses 8 are used in the divider 3 to generate a frequency-divided pulse 9 close to the desired timing ((C) in the same figure).
) and then pass it through the delay adjuster 4 to obtain the desired timing output pulse 10 ((d) in the same figure).
(produced).

By the way, when measuring the amount of delay of the delay adjuster 4, the delay adjuster 4 is controlled by the controller 1 to create an appropriate amount of delay.

If you don't know exactly how much delay will be caused by what settings, you won't be able to make accurate settings. Therefore, the input of the delay adjuster 4 is connected to the ring oscillation control section 6 through the switch 5 to cause ring oscillation.

For example, if it oscillates with a period of 100 nsec, the frequency counter built in the ring oscillation control unit 6 will
It is measured as z. Therefore, try slightly changing the delay amount of the delay adjuster 4, and if it is measured as 9.99900MHz, it is 1.
The period is 100°01on(8), which means that the delay has increased by 10pe.

In this way, according to the above embodiment, it is possible to easily measure the amount of delay with high precision, so if all delay adjustment amounts 4 are measured, when a desired delay is to be output,
Based on the measured data, it is possible to set the delay amount to the closest value.

Although the above embodiment describes a timing adjustment method for a pulse generator, a timing adjustment method for other electronic devices may be used, and the same effects as in the above embodiment can be achieved.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As described above, according to the present invention, since the timing delay amount is ring-oscillated and the delay amount can be detected from the change in the oscillation frequency, the delay amount of the delay adjuster does not need to change linearly. This has the advantage that the device can be made at low cost and highly accurate.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of timing generation in a pulse generator according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a block diagram of timing generation in a conventional pulse generator. FIG. 3 is a timing chart for explaining the operations of FIGS. 1 and 2. FIG. 1... Controller, 2... Oscillator, 3...
・Frequency divider, 4...delay adjuster, 5...switcher,
6...Ring oscillation control section with built-in frequency counter.

Claims (1)

[Claims] A method for accurately measuring the amount of delay in a delay adjuster that controls the time delay of an electronic pulse generator and creating a necessary delay time, the output of the delay adjuster being fed back to its input. A ring oscillation circuit is formed using the ring oscillation circuit, and by accurately calculating the amount of time delay from the oscillation frequency of this ring oscillation circuit, the amount of delay is adjusted as close as possible to the required delay time, and a timing signal is output. A pulse generator timing automatic correction method characterized by: