Method for manufacturing a calibration device

1. A method for manufacturing a calibration device for an active circuit on a chip, said method comprising:

providing an active circuit capable of exhibiting a range of electrical characteristics including a desired electrical characteristic, said active circuit having one or more control input terminals;

providing a calibration mechanism on-chip with the active circuit, said calibration mechanism generating a control output and comprising a device under test (DUT) configured as a replica of at least one segment of the active circuit and which receives the control output and generates a test output that causes finite adjustments to the control output based on a comparison of the electrical characteristics exhibited by the DUT with a known electrical characteristic; and

attaching to each control input terminal of the active circuit a corresponding control output from the calibration mechanism, wherein the control output of the calibration mechanism dynamically adjusts control input applied to devices of the active circuit to force the active circuit to exhibit the desired electrical characteristic.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein said calibration mechanism further comprises:

a first comparator that receives a test voltage as a first input;

a reference voltage that is coupled to the first comparator as a second input;

wherein said comparator performs a comparison of the reference voltage to the test voltage and generates a comparative output indicating the result of the comparison; and

a finite state machine that receives as input the comparative output and generates the control input; wherein when the comparative output is a first value indicating the test voltage meets a pre-determined criteria, said control input is provided to the active circuit and when the comparative output is a second value indicating the test voltage does not meet the pre-determined criteria, said control input is provided to the DUT to adjust the test voltage closer to a point of calibration, wherein said predetermined criteria is one that leads to the active circuit exhibiting the desired electrical characteristic.

3. The method of claim 2 , said calibration mechanism further comprising:

a second comparator that receives the test voltage as a second input;

a second reference voltage that is coupled to the second comparator as a first input;

wherein said second comparator performs a next comparison of the second reference voltage to the test voltage and generates a second comparative output indicating the result of the next comparison;

wherein said finite state machine also receives as input the second comparative output and generates the control input relative to the first and second comparative outputs; and

wherein when the second comparative output is a first value indicating the test voltage meets a pre-determined criteria, said control input is provided to the active circuit and when the second comparative output is a second value indicating the test voltage does not meet the pre-determined criteria, said control input is provided to the DUT to adjust the test voltage closer to the point of calibration.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein:

the DUT is one segment of a source series terminated (SST) serial link transmitter configured with a pull-up circuit and a pull down circuit;

said pull up circuit comprising a plurality of parallel-connected P-transistors collectively coupled in series to a first resistor through an input P-transistor;

said pull down circuit comprising a plurality of parallel-connected N-transistors collectively coupled in series to a second resistor through an input N-transistor;

when said segment utilized as the DUT is the pull up circuit: said test voltage is a voltage measured at a node between the pull up circuit segment and a first reference resistor of known resistance; and said calibration mechanism performs calibration of the DUT until the test voltage falls below a preset low voltage or rises above a preset high voltage; and

when said segment utilized as the DUT is the pull down circuit: said test voltage is a voltage measured at a node between the pull down circuit segment and a second reference resistor of known resistance; and said calibration mechanism performs calibration of the DUT until the test voltage rises above the preset low voltage or falls below the preset high voltage.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein:

when the DUT is a pull-up circuit, the parallel-connected transistors of the DUT and series-connected resistors are coupled to a same high voltage node; and

when the DUT is a pull down circuit, the parallel-connected transistors of the DUT and series connected resistors are coupled to a same low voltage node.

6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

providing a first resistance connected in series to a second resistance that is a preset percentage lower than the first resistance, said first resistance and said second resistance connected at a node from which a first voltage is received, said first voltage representing a low voltage for comparing to the test voltage; and

providing a third resistance connected in series to a fourth resistance that is a preset percentage higher than the first resistance, said first resistance and said second resistance connected at a node from which a second voltage is received, said second voltage representing a high voltage for comparing to the test voltage;

wherein a test voltage is desired to be within the voltage range bounded by a low voltage and a high voltage.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein:

said active circuit is a source series terminated (SST) serial link transmitter configured with parallel branches of transistors collectively connected in series to a resistor through an input transistor; and

said DUT is a replica of at least one segment of the SST transmitter.