On-chip parameter measurement

• US 9,720,033 B2
• Filed: 09/29/2015
• Issued: 08/01/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 09/29/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Inventors: Savoj, Jafar, Leibowitz, Brian S., Fang, Emerson S.
• Primary Examiner(s): Laballe, Clayton E
• Assistant Examiner(s): REISNER, NOAM S
• Application Number:
  US14/868,954
• Publication Number:
  US 20170089975A1
• Time in Patent Office: 672 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G01R 31/2874 related to temperature
• CPC Class Codes: G01R 31/2884 using dedicated test connectors, test elements or test circuits on the IC under test G01R31/2855 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G01R 31/30 Marginal testing, e.g. by varying supply voltage testing computers during standby operation or idle time G06F11/22
• CPC Class Codes: G01R 35/005 Calibrating; Standards or reference devices, e.g. voltage or resistance standards, "golden" references G01R33/0035, G01R35/002 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/206 comprising thermal management
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/26 Power supply means, e.g. regulation thereof for memories G11C
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/3203 Power management, i.e. event-based initiation of a power-saving mode
• CPC Class Codes: H03K 19/003 Modifications for increasing the reliability for protection
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 10/00 Energy efficient computing, e.g. low power processors, power management or thermal management

Abstract

An apparatus and method for performing on-chip parameter measurement is disclosed. In one embodiment, an IC includes a number of functional circuit blocks each having one or more sensors for measuring parameters such as voltage and temperature. Each of the functional blocks includes circuitry coupled to receive power from a local supply voltage node. Similarly, the circuitry in each of the sensors is also coupled to receive power from the corresponding local supply voltage node. Each of the sensors may be calibrated to compensate for process, voltage, and temperature variations. Various methods based on characterization of the sensors may be used to perform the calibrations.

Claims

1. An integrated circuit comprising:

metrology control circuitry comprising a reference sensor;

one or more local supply voltage nodes;

a plurality of functional circuit blocks each including functional circuitry, wherein each of the plurality of functional circuit blocks is coupled to receive a corresponding local supply voltage from at least one of the one or more local supply voltage nodes; and

a plurality of sensors coupled in series to the metrology control circuitry, wherein;

the plurality of functional circuit blocks includes at least one of the plurality of sensors;

each of the plurality of sensors is coupled to the same local supply voltage node of the functional circuit block in which it is included to receive the local supply voltage that is provided to the functional circuitry implemented in its corresponding one of the functional circuit blocks;

each of the plurality of sensors is configured to measure and provide indications of a system parameter to the metrology control circuitry; and

each of the sensors is calibrated by the metrology control circuitry using the reference sensor to compensate for process, voltage, and temperature dependencies.

2. The integrated circuit as recited in claim 1, wherein each of the plurality of sensors includes at least two ring oscillators each coupled to receive the local supply voltage provided to the functional circuitry implemented in its corresponding one of the functional circuit blocks, wherein the ring oscillators each have different characteristics with respect to one another.

3. The integrated circuit as recited in claim 2, wherein each of the ring oscillators in each of the plurality of sensors is calibrated to compensate for process, voltage, and temperature dependencies using a technique of surface fitting of characteristics of the ring oscillator.

4. The integrated circuit as recited in claim 2, wherein the ring oscillators in each of the plurality of sensors are calibrated to compensate for process, voltage, and temperature dependencies using a piecewise linear technique.

5. The integrated circuit as recited in claim 2, wherein at least one of the ring oscillators is implemented using a plurality of series-coupled NAND gates.

6. The integrated circuit as recited in claim 2, wherein at least one of the ring oscillators is implemented using a plurality of series-coupled inverters.

7. The integrated circuit as recited in claim 2, wherein each of the plurality of sensors further includes counting circuitry coupled to its respective ring oscillators.

8. The integrated circuit as recited in claim 2, wherein each of the ring oscillators of each of the plurality of sensors is characterized by a polynomial, wherein during operation of the integrated circuit, a voltage and a temperature determined by a given one of the plurality of sensors is determined by solving for voltage and temperature using respective frequencies read from each of the ring oscillators and the polynomial characterizing each of the ring oscillators.

9. The integrated circuit as recited in claim 1, wherein each of the plurality of sensors includes a ring oscillator coupled to receive the local supply voltage provided to the functional circuitry implemented in its corresponding one of the functional circuit blocks, wherein the ring oscillator is implemented using a plurality of series-coupled inverters.

10. The integrated circuit as recited in claim 9, wherein each of the series-coupled inverters include first and second transistors each having respective gate terminals coupled to an inverter input and respective drain terminals coupled to an inverter output, wherein each of the series-coupled inverters includes a third transistor coupled between the first transistor and a local voltage supply node, and a fourth transistor coupled between the second transistor and a reference node.

11. The integrated circuit as recited in claim 10, wherein the third transistor includes a respective gate terminal coupled to receive a variable input voltage, and wherein the fourth transistor includes a respective gate terminal coupled to receive a variable bias voltage.

12. The integrated circuit as recited in claim 1, wherein each of the plurality of sensors is coupled to a control circuit, and wherein the control circuit is configured to cause performance of a calibration of each of the plurality of sensors using a recursive least squares algorithm of a corresponding calibration polynomial.

13. The integrated circuit as recited in claim 1, further comprising a temperature sensor separate from the plurality of sensors, wherein the temperature sensor is coupled to receive an analog supply voltage separate from the local supply voltages provided to each of the plurality of functional circuit blocks.

14. The integrated circuit as recited in claim 1, wherein the integrated circuit is a system on a chip having at least one processing unit.

15. The integrated circuit as recited in claim 1, wherein each of the plurality of sensors is configured to provide an indication at least one of the following:

a temperature; and

a voltage.

16. A method comprising:

calibrating a plurality of sensors implemented in an integrated circuit, the plurality of sensors being coupled in series to a metrology control circuit having a reference sensor, wherein the integrated circuit includes a plurality of functional circuit blocks, and wherein one or more of the plurality of sensors is implemented in each of the plurality of circuit blocks, and wherein each of the plurality of sensors is coupled to a same local supply voltage node of the functional circuit block in which it is included to receive a local supply voltage that is also received by functional circuitry in its corresponding one of the functional circuit blocks, and wherein calibrating each of the plurality of sensors comprises the metrology control circuit using the reference sensor to compensate for process, voltage, and temperature dependencies; and

providing, based on measurements performed by each of the plurality of sensors, indications of one or more system parameters to the metrology control circuit.

17. The method as recited in claim 16, wherein each of the plurality of sensors includes a first ring oscillator and a second ring oscillator each coupled to receive the local supply voltage received by the functional circuitry in its corresponding one of the plurality of functional circuit blocks, and wherein the method further comprises characterizing each of the first and second ring oscillators with a respective, unique polynomial.

18. The method as recited in claim 17, further comprising:

initially characterizing each of the first and second ring oscillators by a unique polynomial indicating a respective output frequency that is a function of voltage and temperature;

mapping values of frequency, voltage, and temperature for each of the first and second ring oscillators to a surface;

performing measurements of a frequency output by each of the first and second ring oscillators for a plurality of voltage and temperature values; and

updating the unique polynomial for each of the first and second ring oscillators using a surface fitting technique.

19. The method as recited in claim 17, further comprising calibrating each of the first and second ring oscillators using a piecewise linear technique.

20. The method as recited in claim 17, wherein at least one of the first and second ring oscillators is implemented using a plurality of series-coupled NAND gates.

21. The method as recited in claim 17, wherein at least one of the first and second ring oscillators is implemented using a plurality of series-coupled inverters.

22. The method as recited in claim 17, further comprising:

the first ring oscillator toggling a first counter;

the second ring oscillator toggling a second counter; and

determining output frequencies of the first and second ring oscillator based on respective counts produced by the first and second ring oscillators.

23. The method as recited in claim 22, further comprising:

determining a voltage and a temperature indicated by the sensor by solving for voltage and temperature using the respective polynomials characterizing the first and second ring oscillators and respective frequencies indicated by the first and second counters.

24. The method as recited in claim 16, wherein each of the sensors includes a ring oscillator having a plurality of series-coupled inverters, wherein the ring oscillator is coupled to receive the local supply voltage provided to the functional circuitry implemented in its corresponding one of the plurality of functional circuit blocks, and wherein the method further comprises determining a voltage and a temperature based on a frequency of a signal produced by the ring oscillator.

25. The method as recited in claim 24, wherein each of the series-coupled inverters include first and second transistors each having respective gate terminals coupled to an inverter input and respective drain terminals coupled to an inverter output, wherein each of the series-coupled inverters includes a third transistor coupled between the first transistor and a local voltage supply node, and a fourth transistor coupled between the second transistor and a reference node.

26. The method as recited in claim 25, wherein calibrating the ring oscillator comprises providing a variable input voltage to a respective gate terminal of the third transistor and a variable bias voltage to a respective input of the fourth transistor.

27. The method as recited in claim 16, further comprising a control circuit calibrating the plurality of sensors using a recursive least squares algorithm.

28. The method as recited in claim 16, wherein the functional circuit blocks of the integrated circuit include one or more processor cores and a graphics processing unit, and wherein the method further comprises:

determining a current voltage and temperature of one of the one or more processor cores using one or more of the plurality of sensors implemented therein; and

determining a current voltage and temperature of the graphic processing unit using one or more of plurality of sensors implemented therein.

29. The method as recited in claim 16, further comprising:

performing an initial calibration of each of the plurality of sensors during testing of the integrated circuit on automated test equipment (ATE);

performing subsequent calibrations of each of the plurality of sensors during operation of the integrated circuit.

30. An apparatus comprising:

metrology control circuitry comprising a reference sensor;

one or more functional circuit blocks each including functional circuitry coupled to receive a respective local supply voltage; and

a plurality of sensors coupled in series to the metrology control circuitry, wherein;

each of the one or more functional circuit blocks includes one or more of the plurality of sensors;

each of the sensors includes one or more ring oscillators each coupled to the same respective local supply voltage node of the functional circuit block in which it is included to receive the local supply voltage that is provided to the functional circuitry implemented in its corresponding functional circuit block;

each of the plurality of sensors is configured to determine a local voltage and a local temperature based on a frequency of oscillation of its corresponding ring oscillator and provide the local voltage and the local temperature to the metrology control circuitry; and

each ring oscillator of each of the plurality of sensors is calibrated by the metrology control circuitry using the reference sensor to compensate for process, voltage and temperature dependencies.

31. The apparatus as recited in claim 30, wherein each of the plurality of sensors includes a first ring oscillator characterized by a first polynomial, and a second ring oscillator characterized by a second polynomial.

32. The apparatus as recited in claim 31, wherein the first ring oscillator is implemented using a plurality of series-coupled inverters, and wherein the second ring oscillator is implemented using a plurality of series-coupled NAND gates.

33. The apparatus as recited in claim 31, wherein the first and second ring oscillators are calibrated using a surface fitting technique.

34. The apparatus as recited in claim 31, wherein the first and second ring oscillators are calibrated using a piecewise linear technique.

35. The apparatus as recited in claim 31, wherein the first and second ring oscillators are coupled to a control circuit configured to determine voltage and temperature sensed by the corresponding one of the plurality of sensors by solving for voltage and temperature based on frequency information generated by the first and second ring oscillators.

36. The apparatus as recited in claim 35, wherein each of the plurality of sensors includes a first counter coupled to its corresponding first ring oscillator and a second counter coupled to its corresponding second ring oscillator, wherein the control circuit is configured to determine a frequency output by each of the first and second oscillators based on count values received from the first and second counters, respectively.

37. The apparatus as recited in claim 30, wherein each of the plurality of sensors includes a single ring oscillator coupled to receive the local supply voltage provided to the functional circuitry implemented in its corresponding one of the functional circuit blocks.

38. The apparatus as recited in claim 37, wherein the ring oscillator is implemented using a plurality of series-coupled inverters each of which includes first and second transistors having respective gate terminals coupled to an inverter input and respective drain terminals coupled to an inverter output, wherein each of the series-coupled inverters includes a third transistor coupled between the first transistor and a local voltage supply node, and a fourth transistor coupled between the second transistor and a reference node.

39. The apparatus as recited in claim 38, wherein the third transistor includes a respective gate terminal coupled to receive a variable input voltage, and wherein the fourth transistor includes a respective gate terminal coupled to receive a variable bias voltage.

40. The apparatus as recited in claim 30, wherein each of the one or more functional circuit blocks is implemented on a single integrated circuit, and wherein each of the one or more functional circuit blocks includes at least one processing unit.