Title :
On-chip Timing Uncertainty Measurements on IBM Microprocessors
Author :
Franch, R. ; Restle, P. ; James, N. ; Huott, W. ; Friedrich, J. ; Dixon, R. ; Weitzel, S. ; Van Goor, K. ; Salem, G.
Author_Institution :
IBM Res., Yorktown Heights, NY
Abstract :
Timing uncertainty in microprocessors is comprised of several sources including PLL jitter, clock distribution skew and jitter, across chip device variations, and power supply noise. The on-chip measurement macro called SKITTER (SKew+jITTER) was designed to measure timing uncertainty from all combined sources by measuring the number of logic stages that complete in a cycle. This measure of completed delay stages has proven to be a very sensitive monitor of power supply noise, which has emerged as a dominant component of timing uncertainty. This paper describes the Skitter measurement experiences of several IBM microprocessors including PPC970MP, XBOX360TM, CELL Broadband EngineTM, and POWER6TM microprocessors running different workloads.
Keywords :
clocks; measurement uncertainty; microprocessor chips; phase locked loops; time measurement; timing jitter; IBM microprocessor; PLL jitter; SKITTER design; across chip device variations; clock distribution skew; on-chip timing uncertainty measurement; power supply noise; Clocks; Logic design; Logic devices; Measurement uncertainty; Microprocessors; Phase locked loops; Power measurement; Power supplies; Semiconductor device measurement; Timing jitter;
Conference_Titel :
Test Conference, 2008. ITC 2008. IEEE International
Conference_Location :
Santa Clara, CA
Print_ISBN :
978-1-4244-2402-3
Electronic_ISBN :
1089-3539
DOI :
10.1109/TEST.2008.4700707