Power Supply Noise in SoCs: Metrics, Management, and Measurement

Abstract

Power integrity is emerging as a major challenge in deep-submicron SoC designs. The lack of predictability is complicating timing closure, physical design, production test, and speed grading of SoCs. This article describes and validates two metrics that quantify the impact of power supply noise. The IC industry is moving quickly to adopt new deep-submicron (DSM) technologies that offer unprecedented integration levels and cost benefits. These advanced technologies pose unexpected challenges to the semiconductor industry. The DSM problems have led the development of SOC design methodologies to deal with the problem of complexity and productivity. To reduce power dissipation, manufacturers have scaled down supply voltage in each successive technology. Designers analyzed power supply noise with static voltage drop (SVD) analysis, which might not reflect the true nature of power supply fluctuations. Dynamic voltage drop (DVD) analysis is emerging as a replacement of SVD analysis for capturing the impact of power supply noise on the timing behavior of logic and memory cells.