International Business Machines Corporation

Anurag P Umbarkar

Howard Harold Smith

Erich C Schanzenbach

Raju Balasubramanian

A method and system for implementing automated identification of optimal sense point (SP) and sector locations in various on-chip linear voltage regulator designs. A customized cost function is used along with predefined performance metrics to identify optimal SP and sector locations, under user-defined design constraints. The SP and sector locations are updated based on the identified optimization results, and the updated SP and sector locations are applied to an on-chip linear voltage regulator design to provide enhanced regulator performance and to ensure proper operation.

Implementing automated identification of optimal sense point and sector locations in various on-chip linear voltage regulator designs

A linear circuit simulator can be supplied with a linear power distribution model of an integrated circuit (IC) and two sets of voltage regulator equivalent resistances. The linear circuit simulator can then be used to calculate two voltages, at a sense point of the IC, corresponding to the two sets of voltage regulator equivalent resistances. The two sets of voltage regulator equivalent resistances and the two voltages at the IC sense point can be used to interpolate a slope of a resistance versus voltage curve of the linear power distribution model. The slope can be used to calculate an updated set of voltage regulator equivalent resistances, which can be used by the linear circuit simulator to calculate a set of performance metrics and an updated voltage at the sense point of the IC.

Growing community of inventors

Austin, TX, United States of America

Anurag P Umbarkar