Transient IR-drop waveform measurement system and method for high speed integrated circuit

摘要

A transient IR-drop waveform measurement system and method for a high speed integrated circuit are provided. The system includes all-digital elements and is based on a ring oscillator in GHz. Through oscillation with a Fast Ring Oscillator, sampling with an Edge Detector and counting with a Ripple Counter, a width and a peak of an IR-drop waveform are obtained. Moreover, a power supply network is adapted during a clock cycle through sending an adaptation signal to a connected dynamic voltage frequency scaling (DVFS) system. The measurement method includes 11 steps. The measurement system has following features: 1) IR-drop peak/width measurement ability; 2) low fabrication and test cost; 3) high accuracy and sensitivity; 4) early adaptation ability. Therefore, the measurement system can be used alone for chip monitoring or testing, in order to reduce a power supply noise disturbance to a chip.