Adaptive voltage system for aging guard-band reduction

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10122347-B2
Application number	US-201715477913-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 3, 2017
Priority date	Apr 3, 2017
Publication date	Nov 6, 2018
Grant date	Nov 6, 2018

Abstract

An apparatus is provided which includes: a first power supply node; a second power supply node; a memory bit-cell coupled to the second power supply node; a circuitry coupled to the first and second power supply nodes, the circuitry to operate in a diode-connected mode; and a transistor coupled in parallel to the circuitry, wherein the transistor is controllable by a digital signal such that when the transistor is to turn on, it is to apply voltage and/or current stress to the memory bit-cell.

First claim

We claim:

1. An apparatus comprising:
a first power supply node;
a second power supply node;
a memory bit-cell coupled to the second power supply node;
circuitry coupled to the first and second power supply nodes, wherein the circuitry is to operate in a diode-connected mode;
a transistor coupled in parallel to the circuitry, wherein the transistor is controllable by a digital signal such that when the transistor is to turn on, it is to apply voltage and/or current stress to the memory bit-cell; and
a sense amplifier to determine a logic state stored in the memory bit-cell before and after the application of the voltage and/or current stress to the memory bit-cell, wherein an output of the sense amplifier is to indicate an early detection of memory failure during a standby or retention mode.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising a power management circuitry to generate the digital signal such that the transistor is to turn on in a low power mode or retention mode, and to turn off in an active mode.

3. The apparatus of claim 2 , further comprising a voltage regulator coupled to the power management circuitry, wherein the voltage regulator is to provide a power supply to the first power supply node.

4. The apparatus of claim 3 , wherein the power management circuitry is to instruct the voltage regulator to adjust the power supply according to an output of the sense amplifier associated with the memory bit-cell.

5. The apparatus of claim 4 , wherein the power management circuitry is to adjust a value of a voltage identification (VID) code to adjust the power supply.

6. The apparatus of claim 2 , wherein the power management circuitry is to cause a power supply on the first power supply node to rise over time.

7. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the memory bit-cell is a static random access memory bit-cell.

8. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the circuitry comprises one of: a stack of diode-connected transistors, or a single diode-connected transistor.

9. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the circuitry and the transistor are shared by a column of memory bit-cells.

10. An apparatus comprising:
a first power supply node; and
a retention V min monitor (RVM) coupled to a memory, wherein the RVM is to detect an aging failure of the memory, wherein the RVM and the memory are coupled to the first power supply node, and wherein the RVM comprises:
a bit-cell coupled to a second power supply node;
circuitry coupled to the first and second power supply nodes, wherein the circuitry is to operate in a diode-connected mode; and
a transistor coupled in parallel to the circuitry, wherein the transistor is controllable by a digital signal such that when the transistor is to turn on, it is to apply voltage and/or current stress to the bit-cell.

11. The apparatus of claim 10 , further comprising a tunable replica bit (TRB) circuitry coupled to the memory, wherein the TRB circuitry is to detect timing margin for the memory.

12. The apparatus of claim 11 , further comprising a tunable replica circuit (TRC) coupled to a logic block, wherein the TRC is to detect a timing margin and error in advance for the logic block, and wherein the logic block and the TRC are coupled to the first power supply node.

13. The apparatus of claim 12 , further comprising a power management circuitry communicatively coupled to the TRB circuitry, TRC, and RVM.

14. The apparatus of claim 13 , further comprising a voltage regulator coupled to the power management logic, wherein the power management circuitry is to cause the voltage regulator to modulate a power supply provided to the first power supply node according to outputs of the TRB, TRC, and RVM.

15. A system comprising:
a voltage regulator;
a power management circuitry coupled to the voltage regulator;
a first power supply node coupled to the voltage regulator; and
a processor coupled to the first power supply node and the power management circuitry, wherein the processor includes a memory having a memory bit-cell coupled to the first and second power supply nodes, wherein the processor comprises:
a circuitry coupled to the first and second power supply nodes, the circuitry to operate in a diode-connected mode;
a transistor coupled in parallel to the circuitry, wherein the transistor is controllable by a digital signal such that when the transistor is to turn on, it is to apply voltage and/or current stress to the memory bit-cell; and
a sense amplifier to determine a logic state stored in the memory bit-cell before and after the application of the voltage and/or current stress to the memory bit-cell, wherein an output of the sense amplifier is to indicate an early detection of failure of the memory during a standby or retention mode.

16. The system of claim 15 , comprises a wireless interface to allow the processor to communicate with another device.

17. The system of claim 15 , wherein the power management circuitry is to generate the digital signal such that the transistor is to turn on in a low power mode or retention mode, and to turn off in an active mode.

18. The system of claim 15 , wherein the memory includes a column of memory bit cells, wherein the circuitry and the transistor are shared by the column of memory bit cells.

Assignees

• Intel Corp

Inventors

• Cho Minki
• Kulkarni Jaydeep
• Tokunaga Carlos
• Khellah Muhammad
• Tschanz James

Classifications

• G06F1/3275 Primary

  Power saving in memory, e.g. RAM, cache · CPC title

• G11C11/413

  Auxiliary circuits, e.g. for addressing, decoding, driving, writing, sensing, timing or power reduction · CPC title

• G11C11/419

  Read-write [R-W] circuits · CPC title

• G11C2029/5006

  Current · CPC title

• G11C2029/5004

  Voltage · CPC title