Method and apparatus for providing wideband power regulation to a microelectronic device

• US 20030006650A1
• Filed: 05/15/2002
• Published: 01/09/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 01/29/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Infineon Technologies Austria Ag (Infineon Technologies AG)
• Original Assignee: Primarion Incorporated (Infineon Technologies AG)
• Inventors: Steffen, Nicholas Roberts, Carroll, Robert, Tang, Benjamim, Ostrom, Kenneth, Bassett, Keith Nelson, Pohlman, William, Duong, Clifford, Ng, Timothy
• Granted Patent: US 6,975,494 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 307/43
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/26 Power supply means, e.g. regulation thereof for memories G11C
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/305 in the event of power-supply fluctuations
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 1/102 being switching converters H02J1/108, H02J1/12 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H02M 1/0012 Control circuits using digital or numerical techniques in DC/DC converters H02M3/157, H02M3/33515; in DC-AC converters H02M7/53873
• CPC Class Codes: H02M 1/143 using compensating arrangements for reducing noise from the supply in transmission systems H04B15/005
• CPC Class Codes: H02M 3/1584 with a plurality of power processing stages connected in parallel
• CPC Class Codes: H05K 1/181 associated with surface mounted components

Abstract

A method, apparatus, and system for providing operating power and transient suppression power to a microelectronic device are disclosed. The system includes a primary regulator to supply nominal operating power and to respond to relatively slow transient events and a transient suppression regulator to respond to fast transient power events. The system also includes a sense circuit to detect when a transient event occurs and to send a signal to the transient suppression regulator to supply or sink current to the load in response to a sensed transient power event.

Claims

1. A tiered power regulation system for providing power to a microelectronic device, the system comprising:

a first power regulator configured to provide nominal operating power to a plurality of locations on a microelectronic device and to respond to low frequency transient power demands by the microelectronic device; and

a plurality of second power regulators configured to provide transient suppression power to the microelectronic device, wherein at least one of the second regulators is coupled in parallel to the first power regulators; and

a sense circuit configured to detect a transient power event and coupled to at least one of the plurality of second power regulators.

2. The tiered power regulation system of claim 1, wherein the sense circuit includes a multi-threshold voltage sense circuit.

3. The tiered power regulation system of claim 1, wherein the sense circuit comprises a di/dt sense circuit.

4. The tiered power regulation system of claim 1, wherein the sense circuit comprises a di/dt sense circuit and a voltage sense circuit.

5. The tiered power regulation system of claim 4, wherein the voltage sense circuit comprises a multi-threshold sense circuit.

6. The tiered power regulation system of claim 1, wherein the sense circuit comprises a voltage sense circuit configured to measure a voltage between Vdd and a microelectronic device power plane.

7. The tiered power regulation system of claim 1, wherein the sense circuit comprises a voltage sense circuit configured to measure a voltage between an output of one of the plurality of second power regulators and a microelectronic device power plane.

8. The tiered power regulation system of claim 1, wherein the sense circuit comprises a voltage sense circuit configured to compare a sensed voltage to a reference voltage.

9. The tiered power regulation system of claim 1, wherein the sense circuit comprises a voltage sense circuit configured to compare a sensed voltage to a filtered sensed voltage.

10. The tiered power regulation system of claim 1, wherein the sense circuit comprises a voltage sense circuit configured to measure a voltage between an output of one of the plurality of second power regulators and a microelectronic device power plane.

11. The tiered power regulation system of claim 1, wherein the sense circuit comprises a di/dt circuit configured to measure a rate of change of current drawn by a microelectronic device.

12. The tiered power regulation system of claim 1, wherein the sense circuit comprises a di/dt circuit configured to measure a rate of change of current by measuring a voltage across a parasitic inductance in a microelectronic device power plane.

13. The tiered power regulation system of claim 1, wherein the sense circuit comprises a di/dt circuit configured to measure a rate of change of current by measuring a voltage across a parasitic inductance in a microelectronic device ground plane.

14. The tiered power regulation system of claim 1, wherein the sense circuit comprises a di/dt circuit configured to measure a rate of change of current by measuring a voltage across a parasitic inductance in a microelectronic device power plane plus a voltage across a parasitic inductance in a microelectronic device ground plane.

15. The tiered power regulation system of claim 1, further comprising a controller coupled to at least one of the plurality of first power regulators.

16. The tiered power regulation system of claim 15, wherein the controller is configured to receive a signal indicative of a transient power event and to send a signal indicative of the sensed transient event to the first power regulator.

17. The tiered power regulation system of claim 16, wherein the signal indicative of a transient power event is generated from a voltage comparator with an offset from a reference voltage.

18. The tiered power regulation system of claim 16, wherein the signal indicative of a transient power event is generated from a voltage comparator with an offset from a filtered sense voltage.

19. The tiered power regulation system of claim 1, wherein at least one of the plurality of second power regulators comprises a charge well monitor.

20. The tiered power regulation system of claim 1, wherein at least one of the plurality of second power regulators comprises a temperature monitor.

21. The tiered power regulation system of claim 1, wherein at least one of the plurality of second power regulators comprises a controller configured to monitor a device characteristic selected fro the group consisting of charge well and temperature and the at least one of the plurality of second power regulators is configured to modify threshold levels in response to the monitored characteristic and reduce the at least one of the plurality of second power regulators activity level when the monitored characteristic exceeds a predetermined value.

22. The tiered power regulation system of claim 1, wherein at least one of the plurality of second power regulators comprises a serial interface to allow for configuration of the regulator.

23. The tiered power regulation system of claim 1, wherein at least one of the plurality of second power regulators comprises an injector control circuit.

24. The tiered power regulation system of claim 1, wherein at least one of the plurality of second power regulators comprises a di/dt sense circuit and a voltage sense circuit for a current supply portion of the second power regulator and comprises a voltage sense circuit for the current sink portion of the second power regulator.

25. The tiered power regulation system of claim 1, wherein at least one of the plurality of second power regulators comprises a plurality of separately enabled output banks.

26. The tiered power regulation system of claim 25, wherein at least one of the plurality of second power regulators further comprises a shared current switch coupled to one or more of the banks and configured to activate one or more of the banks.

27. The tiered power regulation system of claim 25, wherein at least one of the plurality of second power regulators further comprises a di/dt current switch to generate a desired output current.

28. The tiered power regulation system of claim 1, wherein at least one of the plurality of second power regulators is configured to generate an output current pulse having a shape characterized by a first region and a subsequent second region, wherein the first region includes a first boost current which exceeds a transient current requirement, and wherein the second region includes a second boost current whose amplitude is less than the transient current requirement.

29. The tiered power regulation system of claim 1, wherein the first power regulator comprises a multi-phase switching regulator.

30. The tiered power regulation system of claim 1, farther comprising a plurality of first power regulators.

31. The tiered power regulation system of claim 1, wherein at least one of the plurality of second power regulators comprises an open loop transient suppression portion.

32. The tiered power regulation system of claim 1, wherein at least one of the plurality of second power regulators comprises a closed loop transient suppression portion.

33. The tiered power regulation system of claim 1, wherein at least one of the plurality of second power regulators comprises a combination of an open loop transient suppression portion and a closed loop transient suppression portion.

34. The tiered power regulation system of claim 1, further comprising a plurality of capacitors coupled to the microelectronic device to provide additional compensation for transient power events.

35. The tiered power regulation system of claim 1, wherein at least one of the plurality of second power regulators is configured to generate a signal indicative of a transient power event and configured to transmit the signal to the first power regulator.

36. The tiered power regulation system of claim 35, wherein at least one of the plurality of second power regulators comprises a plurality of voltage comparators and a tri-state buffer switch to enable only one of the plurality of voltage comparators to send the signal to the primary regulator.

37. The tiered power regulation system of claim 1, wherein at least one of the plurality of second power regulators is configured to adapt to operating conditions.

38. The tiered power regulation system of claim 1, wherein at least one of the plurality of second power regulators is configured to monitor operating conditions.

40. The microelectronic power regulation system of claim 39, further comprising a plurality of primary power regulators configured to provide independently controlled power to a plurality of portions of a microelectronic device.

39. A microelectronic power regulation system comprising:

a primary power regulator configured to provide nominal operating power to a microelectronic device and to respond to low frequency transient events; and

a plurality of second regulators coupled to the microelectronic device, wherein at least one of the second regulators comprises a voltage sense circuit and a di/dt sense circuit.

41. A microelectronic power regulation system comprising:

a first power regulator mechanically coupled to a first substrate and electrically coupled to a microelectronic device; and

a plurality of second regulators mechanically coupled to a second substrate, the second substrate mechanically coupled to the first substrate, wherein at least one of the plurality of second regulators comprises a voltage comparator to detect a transient power event.

42. The microelectronic power regulation system of claim 41, wherein the plurality of second regulators are configured to provide transient suppression power to a plurality of locations on a microelectronic device.

43. The microelectronic power regulation system of claim 41, wherein the plurality of second regulators are coupled to a bottom portion of the microelectronic device.

44. The microelectronic power regulation system of claim 41, wherein at least one of the plurality of second regulators comprises a di/dt sense circuit.

45. The microelectronic power regulation system of claim 41, further comprising a low pass filter coupled to the voltage comparator.

47. The power regulation system of claim 46, wherein at least one of the second power regulators comprises a di/dt sense circuit.

48. The power regulation system of claim 46, wherein at least one of the second power regulators comprises a voltage sense circuit.

49. The power regulation system of claim 46, wherein at least one of the second power regulators comprises a di/dt sense circuit and a voltage sense circuit.

50. The power regulation system of claim 46, wherein the di/dt sense circuit and the voltage sense circuit are coupled to a common current source.

51. The power regulation system of claim 46, wherein at least one of the second power regulators comprises a multi-threshold voltage sense circuit.

52. The power regulation system of claim 46, wherein at least one of the second power regulators comprises a multiple-bank output device.

46. A power regulation system for providing regulated voltage to a variable load during steady state and transient load periods, the system comprising:

a primary regulator configured to detect a transient event;

a controller coupled to the primary regulator and configured to receive an early transient event detection signal, to receive a transient event detection signal, to control the primary regulator during quiescent voltage regulation, and to control the primary regulator during a transient response mode;

wherein the transient mode response is initiated upon receipt of the early transient event detection signal; and

a plurality of second power regulators, wherein at least one second power regulator is configured to detect the transient event, to provide an early transient event detection signal to the controller, and to directly respond to the transient event by sourcing current to the load when the load increases and sinking current from the load to a ground when the load decreases.