Heterogeneous method for energy efficient distribution of on-chip power supplies and power network on-chip system for scalable power delivery

Abstract

A heterogeneous power distribution system for an integrated circuit includes a power network-on-chip that receives electrical power from one or more off-chip power converters. The power network-on-chip includes a mesh of power routers to power a plurality of on-chip loads. The mesh of power routers includes a plurality of integrated simple routers and a plurality of integrated complex power routers. Each complex power router of the plurality of complex power routers includes a microcontroller which is communicatively coupled to one or more switches and one or more sensors of the complex power router. The microcontroller is configured to run a process algorithm that dynamically routes and controls power according to a power delivery policy by controlling the one or more switches based on information received from the one or more sensors. A method to determine a near optimal distribution of power supply resources in a heterogeneous power delivery system is also described.