Title :
In-Situ Measurement of Supply-Noise Maps With Millivolt Accuracy and Nanosecond-Order Time Resolution
Author :
Kanno, Yusuke ; Kondoh, Yuki ; Irita, Takahiro ; Hirose, Kenji ; Mori, Ryo ; Yasu, Yoshihiko ; Komatsu, Shigenobu ; Mizuno, Hiroyuki
Author_Institution :
Central Res. Lab., Hitachi, Ltd, Tokyo
fDate :
4/1/2007 12:00:00 AM
Abstract :
An in situ measurement scheme for generating supply-noise maps, which can be conducted while running applications in product-level LSIs, was developed. The design of the on-chip voltage sampling probe is based on a simple ring oscillator, which converts local supply difference between VDD and VSS to oscillation-frequency deviation. High measurement accuracy is achieved by off-chip digital signal processing and calibration. This scheme was used to successfully measure 69-mV local supply noise with 5-ns time resolution in a 3G-cellular-phone processor. It will thus help in designing power-supply networks and in visually verifying the quality of a power supply
Keywords :
electric noise measurement; integrated circuit measurement; integrated circuit noise; microprocessor chips; power supply circuits; 3G cellular phone processor; 5 ns; 69 mV; in-situ measurement; millivolt accuracy; nanosecond-order time resolution; on-chip voltage sampling probe; power integrity; power supply quality; power-supply networks; power-supply-noise map; ring oscillator; system-on-chip; Calibration; Digital signal processing; Noise measurement; Power supplies; Probes; Ring oscillators; Signal resolution; Signal sampling; Time measurement; Voltage-controlled oscillators; In situ measurement; power integrity; power-supply-noise map; ring oscillator; system-on-chip (SoC);
Journal_Title :
Solid-State Circuits, IEEE Journal of
DOI :
10.1109/JSSC.2007.891662
