Patent Application
20170090501
Technical Field
Embodiments described herein relate to integrated circuits, and more particularly, to techniques for generating regulate power supply voltages.
Description of the Related Art
A variety of electronic devices are now in daily use with consumers. Particularly, mobile devices have become ubiquitous. Mobile devices may include cell phones, personal digital assistants (PDAs), smart phones that combine phone functionality and other computing functionality such as various PDA functionality and/or general application support, tablets, laptops, net tops, smart watches, wearable electronics, etc.
Such mobile devices may include multiple integrated circuits, each performing different tasks. In some cases, circuits that perform different tasks may be integrated into a single integrated forming a system on a chip (SoC). The different functional units within a SoC may operate at different power supply voltage levels. In some designs, power supply or regulator circuits may be included in, or external to, the SoC to generate different voltage levels for the myriad functional units included in the SoC.
Regulator circuits may include one or more reactive circuit components. For example, individual regulator sub-assemblies may employ a combination of inductors or capacitors. The reactive circuit components may be fabricated on an integrated circuit with the regulator circuits, or they may be included as discrete components in a semiconductor package or circuit board.
Various embodiments of a system including an integrated circuit die and decoupling unit are disclosed. Broadly speaking, a system is contemplated in which a first phase unit and second phase unit are each configured to generate a regulated supply voltage dependent upon respective first and second clock signals. The first phase unit may include a first transconductance amplifier and the second phase unit may include a second transconductance amplifier. The first transconductance amplifier may be configured to generate a first current dependent upon a reference voltage and the regulated supply voltage. The second transconductance amplifier may be configured to generate a second current dependent upon the reference voltage and the regulated supply voltage.
In one embodiment, the first phase unit may be further configured to compare the first demand current to a first sense current. The first sense current may correspond to a current sourced to a first inductor included in the first phase unit. Additionally, the second phase unit may be further configured to compare the second demand current to a second sense current. The second sense current may correspond to a current sourced to a second inductor included in the second phase unit.
In a further embodiment, the first phase unit may include a first driver circuit configured to source current to the first inductor dependent upon the first clock signal. The first driver circuit may be further configured to sink current from the first inductor dependent upon a comparison of the first demand current and the first source current.
The following detailed description makes reference to the accompanying drawings, which are now briefly described.
While the disclosure is susceptible to various modifications and alternative forms, specific embodiments thereof are shown by way of example in the drawings and will herein be described in detail. It should be understood, however, that the drawings and detailed description thereto are not intended to limit the disclosure to the particular form illustrated, but on the contrary, the intention is to cover all modifications, equivalents and alternatives falling within the spirit and scope of the present disclosure as defined by the appended claims. The headings used herein are for organizational purposes only and are not meant to be used to limit the scope of the description. As used throughout this application, the word “may” is used in a permissive sense (i.e., meaning having the potential to), rather than the mandatory sense (i.e., meaning must). Similarly, the words “include,” “including,” and “includes” mean including, but not limited to.
Various units, circuits, or other components may be described as “configured to” perform a task or tasks. In such contexts, “configured to” is a broad recitation of structure generally meaning “having circuitry that” performs the task or tasks during operation. As such, the unit/circuit/component can be configured to perform the task even when the unit/circuit/component is not currently on. In general, the circuitry that forms the structure corresponding to “configured to” may include hardware circuits. Similarly, various units/circuits/components may be described as performing a task or tasks, for convenience in the description. Such descriptions should be interpreted as including the phrase “configured to.” Reciting a unit/circuit/component that is configured to perform one or more tasks is expressly intended not to invoke 35 U.S.C. §112, paragraph (f) interpretation for that unit/circuit/component. More generally, the recitation of any element is expressly intended not to invoke 35 U.S.C. §112, paragraph (f) interpretation for that element unless the language “means for” or “step for” is specifically recited.
Computing systems may include multiple functional units or devices. These device may be mounted together in a common integrated circuit package, or circuit board. Some computing systems may include multiple functional units on a single integrated circuit, commonly referred to as a “System-on-a-chip” or “SoC.” Each functional unit or device within a computing system, may operate at a different voltage levels, which may be different than a voltage level of a master power supply of the power supply. In order to generate the desired voltage levels, one or more regulator units may be employed.
In some computing systems, DC-DC switching regulators are used to generate the desired voltage levels. Switching regulators rapidly switch a series of devices on and off in order to transfer charge to a load through an inductor, such as one of the aforementioned functional units or devices. By adjusting the duration of the time individual devices are switched on, the voltage level at the load may be kept within a predetermined range of a desired value.
Some switching regulators employ multiple phase units, each of which is active for a period of time while the remaining phase units are inactive. Each phase unit may be located in various locations within an integrated circuit, SoC, or even within a semiconductor package. Such phase units may employ local inner control loops that lock the inductor current to a demand current generated by a transconductance amplifier based on a voltage level at the output of the regulator. The use a single transconductance amplifier involves routing a wire for the demand current to all of the individual phase units. Such routing may allow other signals to couple into the wire, resulting in noise in the demand current, thereby reducing the performance of the regulator. The embodiments illustrated in the drawings and described below may provide techniques for using multiple phase units in a regulator unit while maintaining desired performance levels.
A block diagram of a computing system including multiple devices or functional units is illustrated in
As described below in more detail, regulator 101 may, in various embodiments, be configured to generate regulated power supply 103 using power supply 105. A voltage level of regulated power supply 103 may be less than, equal to, or greater than a voltage level of power supply 105 dependent upon the needs of devices 102a and 102b. Although only a single regulated power supply is depicted in the embodiment illustrated in
In the illustrated embodiment, either of devices 102a or 102b may include a processor, processor complex, or a memory. In some embodiments, devices 102a and 102b may include Input/Output (I/O) circuits or analog/mixed-signal circuits. In various embodiments, computing 100 may be configured for use in a desktop computer, server, or in a mobile computing application such as, e.g., a tablet or laptop computer. It is noted that although
As used and described herein, a processor or processor complex having one or more processors or processor cores may, in various embodiments, be representative of a general-purpose processor that performs computational operations. For example, a processor may be a central processing unit (CPU) such as a microprocessor, a microcontroller, an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), or a field-programmable gate array (FPGA).
In the present disclosure, a memory describe any suitable type of memory such as a Dynamic Random Access Memory (DRAM), a Static Random Access Memory (SRAM), a Read-only Memory (ROM), Electrically Erasable Programmable Read-only Memory (EEPROM), or a non-volatile memory, for example.
Analog/mixed-signal circuits may include a variety of circuits including, for example, a crystal oscillator, a phase-locked loop (PLL), an analog-to-digital converter (ADC), and a digital-to-analog converter (DAC) (all not shown). In other embodiments, analog/mixed-signal circuits included in one of devices 102a or 102b may include, radio frequency (RF) circuits that may be configured for operation with wireless networks.
As used herein, I/O circuits may be configured to coordinate data transfer between computing system 100 and one or more peripheral devices. Such peripheral devices may include, without limitation, storage devices (e.g., magnetic or optical media-based storage devices including hard drives, tape drives, CD drives, DVD drives, etc.), audio processing subsystems, or any other suitable type of peripheral devices. In some embodiments, I/O circuits may be configured to implement a version of Universal Serial Bus (USB) protocol, IEEE 1394 (Firewire®) protocol, or an Ethernet (IEEE 802.3) networking standard such as Gigabit Ethernet or 10-Gigabit Ethernet.
In some embodiments, each of the aforementioned devices may include multiple circuits, each of which may include multiple devices, such as, e.g., metal-oxide semiconductor field-effect transistors (MOSFETs) connected via multiple wires fabricated on multiple conductive layers. The conductive layers may be interspersed with insulating layers, such as, silicon dioxide, for example. Each circuit may also contain wiring, fabricated on the conductive layers, designated for a power supply net or a ground supply net.
Each of regulator 101 and devices 102a and 102b may, in various embodiments, be fabricated on a silicon wafer (or simply “wafer”) along with numerous identical copies of regulator 101 and devices 102a and 102b, each of which may be referred to as a “chip” or “die.” During manufacture, various manufacturing steps may be performed on each chip in parallel. Once the manufacturing process has been completed, the individual chips may be removed from the wafer by cutting or slicing through unused areas between each chip.
In other embodiments, regulator 101 may be fabricated on a separate chip than devices 102a and 102b. In such cases, regulator 101 and devices 102a and 102b may be coupled together inside a semiconductor package. Alternatively, regulator 101 and devices 102a and 102b may be mounted on a common circuit board or other suitable substrate. In such cases, wiring for regulated power supply 103 and communication bus 104 may include multiple metal layers fabricated into the package or circuit board.
Turning now to
Each of phase units 201a-d may be configured to supply current to regulated supply 204 dependent upon reference voltage 207 and a respective one of clock signals 208a-d. As described below in more detail, each phase unit of phase units 201a-d may include, at least, a transconductance amplifier, a comparator, a driver circuit, an inductor, and a latch. In various embodiments, difference circuit elements and sub-assemblies may be used to implement the desired functionality of a given phase unit of phase units 201a-d. It is noted that although four phase units are depicted in
During operation, as each of clocks signals 208a-d assert, a corresponding one of phase units 201a-d may source current through a respective inductor to regulated supply 204. A given phase unit of phase units 201a-d may be configured to monitor the current being sourced to regulated supply 204, and the sourced current may then be compared to a demand current generated locally in the given phase unit by the included transconductance amplifier. With each phase unit including a separate transconductance amplifier, less noise may be coupled into the demand current circuit node, thereby improving performance of the regulator unit.
Each phase unit may source current in sequence, with each phase unit sourcing a portion of the overall current to regulated supply 204. As the current demands on regulated supply 204 increase or decrease during operation of the computing system, an amount of current provided by an active phase unit may vary in order to maintain regulated supply 204 at a desired voltage level.
Reference generator may be configured to generate a predetermined voltage level (also referred to herein as a “reference voltage level”) for reference voltage 207. The reference voltage level may, in various embodiments, be adjustable upon completion of a manufacturing process. Alternatively, or additionally, the reference voltage level may be adjustable during operation by the programming of one or more registers (not shown) in response to changes in operating mode of a computing system, or in response to the execution of one or more software instructions by a processor included in the computing system.
In various embodiments, reference generator may include a band gap reference circuit, or other suitable reference circuit, for generating a temperature and/or power supply independent reference voltage. Reference generator may also include one or more current mirrors, amplifiers, or other suitable analog circuitry necessary to adjust an initially generated voltage level to a desired level.
Clock generator 206 may be configured to generate clock signals 208a-d. In various embodiments, a phase of a given one of clock signals 208a-d may be separated by a predetermined phase angle from a proceeding one of clock signals 208a-d. In other words, an assertion of a given clock signal is delayed by a predetermined delay from the assertion of a proceeding clock signal. Each of clock signals 208a-d is coupled to a respective on of phase units 201a-d. It is noted that although four clocks signals are depicted in the embodiment illustrated in
In various embodiments, clock generator 206 may include a phase-locked loop (PLL) or other phase of delay locking circuit suitable for generating the desired phase differences between clocks signals 208a-d. Additionally, clock generator 206 may include an oscillator circuit configured to generate an initial clock signal for use the PLL or other phase locking circuits. In some embodiments, the initial clock signal may be generated external to clock generator 206 and regulator unit 200.
It is noted that the embodiment depicted in
An embodiment of a phase unit is illustrated in
Transconductance amplifier 301 may be configured to convert a difference between reference voltage 207 and regulated supply 204 to idemand current 314. In general, a value of idemand current 314 may be proportional to a difference between reference voltage 207 and regulated supply 204. In some embodiments, transconductance amplifier 301 is operated without negative feedback, i.e., is may be operated “open loop.” A value of a resistive load coupled to the output of transconductance amplifier 301 may be chosen to the output of transconductance amplifier 301 from saturating when the difference between reference voltage 207 and regulated supply 204 is large.
Slope compensation unit 307 may be configured to generate a signal as input to comparator 302 whose value determines a value of the ramp on signal 312 output from latch 303. In various embodiments, slope compensation unit 307 may generate the signal as a function of isense current 315 in order to improve stability of phase unit 300.
Comparator 302 may be configured to generate output signal 310 dependent upon a difference between idemand current 314 and isense current 315 (with compensation). In various embodiments, a voltage level of output signal 310 may be proportional to the difference between the values of the two aforementioned current values. In other embodiments, comparator 302 may generate a digital signal whose logic low level corresponds to a ground potential and whose logic high level corresponds to a voltage level sufficient to enable a n-channel metal-oxide field-effect transistor (MOSFET).
In some embodiments, Pulse generator 316 may be configured to generate one or more pulses on signal 317 dependent upon clock 311. Pulse generator may, in various embodiments, includes delay circuits, and logic gates arranged to generate pulses from either one or the other of rising or falling edges of clock 311. It is noted that, in various embodiments, clock 311 may correspond to any of clocks 208a-d as depicted in
Latch circuit 303 may, in various embodiments, correspond to a specific embodiment of a single data bit storage cell, and may be designed in accordance with one of varying design styles, including, but not limited to, both static and dynamic implementations. In the illustrated embodiment, the complementary output of latch 303, denoted as Q-bar, may be set to a low logic value in response to the assertion of a particular pulse occurring on signal 317. Latch 303 may be reset, i.e., output Q-bar set to a high logic level, in response to the assertion of signal 310 output from comparator 302.
In some embodiments, pre-driver circuit 318 may include circuitry configured to generate control signals 319a and 319b, coupled to transistors 304 and 305, respectively. In response to changes in the logic level on node 312, pre-driver 318 may independently assert and de-assert control signals 319a and 319b. In some embodiments, an asserted one of control signals 319a and 318b may be de-asserted prior to assertion of the de-asserted control signal. By independently asserting and de-asserting control signals 319a and 319b, current flow from the power supply to ground through the driver (commonly referred to as “shoot through” current) may be reduced in various embodiments.
Driver circuit 313 may, in various embodiments, includes transistor 304 and transistor 305. In some embodiments, transistor 304 may correspond to a p-channel MOSFET, and may be configured to source current to node 308 in response to a low logic level on control signal 319a. Transistor 305 may, in various embodiments, correspond to an n-channel MOSFET, and may be configured to sink current from node 308 in response to a high logic level on control signal 319b. It is noted that although driver circuit 313 is depicted as using MOSFETs, in other embodiments, any suitable transconductance device may be employed.
Inductor 306 may be implemented in accordance with one of various design styles. In some embodiments, inductor 306 may be fabricated on an integrated circuit included in a computing system, such as, computing system 100 as illustrated in
It is noted that the embodiment of the capacitor model illustrated in
Turning to
Once a particular phase unit is selected, a charge cycle may be initiated by enabling a pull-up transistor, such as, e.g., transistor 304 of driver 313 as illustrated in
With the pull-up transistor enabled, a demand current and source current may then be compared (block 404). In some embodiments, a transconductance amplifier, included in the selected phase unit, such as, e.g., transconductance amplifier 301 as illustrated in
The method may then depend on the results of the comparison of the demand current and the source current (block 405). In some embodiments, if the demand current and source current are not equal, then the method may proceed from block 404 as described above. Alternatively, if the demand current and the source current are equal, a discharge cycle may then be initiated by enabling a pull-down transistor, such as, e.g., transistor 305 of driver 313 as illustrated in
The method may then depend on which phase unit is selected (block 407). If the currently selected phase unit is a last phase unit of the phase units included in the regulator unit, then the method may conclude in block 409. If, however, the selected phase unit is not the last phase unit, than a next phase unit will be selected (block 408). In various embodiments, a different clock signal of clock signals 208a-d may be asserted, selecting a new phase unit of phase units 201a-d. Once the new phase unit has been selected, the method may proceed from block 403 as described above. It is noted that the method described in flow diagram of
Although the operations illustrated in the flow diagram of
Although specific embodiments have been described above, these embodiments are not intended to limit the scope of the present disclosure, even where only a single embodiment is described with respect to a particular feature. Examples of features provided in the disclosure are intended to be illustrative rather than restrictive unless stated otherwise. The above description is intended to cover such alternatives, modifications, and equivalents as would be apparent to a person skilled in the art having the benefit of this disclosure.
The scope of the present disclosure includes any feature or combination of features disclosed herein (either explicitly or implicitly), or any generalization thereof, whether or not it mitigates any or all of the problems addressed herein. Accordingly, new claims may be formulated during prosecution of this application (or an application claiming priority thereto) to any such combination of features. In particular, with reference to the appended claims, features from dependent claims may be combined with those of the independent claims and features from respective independent claims may be combined in any appropriate manner and not merely in the specific combinations enumerated in the appended claims.
