On-chip sensor for measuring dynamic power supply noise of the semiconductor chip

US8497694B2 · kind B2 · utility

Assignee

• QUALCOMM Incorporated · US

Inventors

• Lew G. Chua-Eoan · Austin, US
• Boris Andreev · San Diego, US
• Christopher T. Phan · San Diego, US
• Amirali Shayan · San Diego, US
• Xiaohua Kong · San Diego, US
• Mikhail Popovich · Danville, US
• Mauricio Calle · Austin, US
• Ik Joon Chang · Seoul, KR

Key dates

• Filing date: Feb 10, 2010
• Grant date: Jul 30, 2013
• Expiry date: Mar 13, 2031

Classification

• Technology area (CPC G): Physics
• CPC primary: G01R29/26
• WIPO field: Measurement
• WIPO sector: Instruments

Abstract

An on-chip sensor measures dynamic power supply noise, such as voltage droop, on a semiconductor chip. In-situ logic is employed, which is sensitive to noise present on the power supply of functional logic of the chip. Exemplary functional logic includes a microprocessor, adder, and/or other functional logic of the chip. The in-situ logic performs some operation, and the amount of time required for performing that operation (i.e., the operational delay) is sensitive to noise present on the power supply. Thus, by evaluating the operational delay of the in-situ logic, the amount of noise present on the power supply can be measured.