The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Oct. 31, 2006
Filed:
Feb. 04, 2004
Claude R. Gauthier, Cupertino, CA (US);
Pradeep R. Trivedi, Sunnyvale, CA (US);
Raymond A. Heald, Los Altos, CA (US);
Gin S. Yee, Sunnyvale, CA (US);
Claude R. Gauthier, Cupertino, CA (US);
Pradeep R. Trivedi, Sunnyvale, CA (US);
Raymond A. Heald, Los Altos, CA (US);
Gin S. Yee, Sunnyvale, CA (US);
Sun Microsystems, Inc., Santa Clara, CA (US);
Abstract
A method and apparatus for compensating for age related degradation in the performance of integrated circuits. In one embodiment, the phase-locked loop (PLL) charge pump is provided with multiple legs that can be selectively enabled or disabled to compensate for the effects of aging. In an alternate embodiment, the power supply voltage control codes can be increased or decreased to compensate for aging effects. In another embodiment, a ring oscillator is used to approximate the effects of NBTI. In this embodiment, the frequency domain is converted to time domain using digital counters and programmable power supply control words are used to change the operating parameters of the power supply to compensate for aging effects.