PMU-side electromigration control

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12461577-B2
Application number	US-202418438782-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Feb 12, 2024
Priority date	May 18, 2022
Publication date	Nov 4, 2025
Grant date	Nov 4, 2025

Abstract

Techniques are disclosed relating to electromigration control implemented by a power management unit. In some embodiments, the power management unit itself is configured to monitor operating conditions, implement control for one or more electromigration loops, and send reduction alerts, via an inter-chip interconnect, to the processor circuitry it powers. In some embodiments, the power management unit implements both thermal and electromigration control loops. Disclosed techniques may advantageously reduce or avoid electromigration issues, potentially with reduced impact on processor performance relative to traditional techniques.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . An apparatus, comprising:
processor circuitry included on a first chip; a power converter configured to power the processor circuitry via one or more rails; power management unit (PMU) circuitry, on a second chip, configured to:
implement an electromigration (EM) control loop that operates on electrical current measurement data from the power converter as an input; and
output a reduction alert signal to the processor circuitry, via an inter-chip communications interconnect coupled to the first and second chips, based on an output of the EM control loop;
wherein the processor circuitry is configured to reduce its processing activity in response to the reduction alert signal.

2 . The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the EM control loop further operates on thermal data from the power converter as an input.

3 . The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the PMU circuitry includes:
an acceleration factor lookup table configured to output a value based on the electrical current measurement data; and a proportional and integral controller configured to generate the output of the EM control loop based on a difference between the value and a target value.

4 . The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the PMU circuitry is further configured to:
implement a thermal control loop that operates on thermal data from the power converter as an input; and output the reduction alert signal to the processor circuitry based on the thermal data.

5 . The apparatus of claim 4 , wherein the PMU circuitry is further configured to:
generate, based on status of the EM control loop and the thermal control loop, reason code data that indicates a set of control loops that are currently engaged; and transmit the reason code data to the processor circuitry.

6 . The apparatus of claim 4 , wherein the EM control loop and the thermal control loop are nested loops and the PMU circuitry is configured to generate an output target temperature for the thermal control loop based on the output of the EM control loop.

7 . The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the PMU circuitry is configured to generate a second signal to the processor circuitry in response to a temperature measurement from the power converter meeting a temperature threshold and the processor circuitry is configured to halt and power down in response to the second signal.

8 . The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the apparatus includes multiple PMU circuits configured to control different sets of power converters;
wherein the PMU circuits are configured to independently generate reduction alert signals based on PMU-implemented EM control loops; wherein the processor circuitry includes control circuitry configured to perform targeted performance reduction for portions of the processor circuitry that are powered by one or more PMU circuits that assert reduction alert signals.

9 . The apparatus of claim 1 ,
wherein the PMU circuitry includes push telemetry circuitry configured to initiate signals to the processor circuitry based on values in push telemetry storage; and wherein the PMU circuitry is configured to provide output data from the EM control loop to the push telemetry storage.

10 . The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the apparatus is a computing device that further includes:
network interface circuitry; wherein the processor circuitry includes a central processing unit.

11 . A method, comprising:
powering, by power circuitry, processor circuitry on a first chip via one or more rails; implementing, by power management unit (PMU) circuitry on a second chip, an electromigration (EM) control loop that operates on electrical current measurement data from the power circuitry as an input; outputting, by the PMU circuitry, a reduction alert signal to the processor circuitry, via an inter-chip communications interconnect coupled to the first and second chips, based on an output of the EM control loop; and reducing, by the processor circuitry, its processing activity in response to the reduction alert signal.

12 . The method of claim 11 , wherein EM control loop further operates on thermal data from the power circuitry as an input.

13 . The method of claim 11 , wherein the EM control loop includes:
an acceleration factor lookup table that outputs a value based on the electrical current measurement data; and a proportional and integral controller that generates the output of the EM control loop based on a difference between the value and a target value.

14 . The method of claim 11 , further comprising:
implementing, by the PMU circuitry, a thermal control loop that operates on thermal data from the power circuitry as an input; wherein the outputting the reduction alert signal is based on the thermal data.

15 . The method of claim 14 , further comprising:
generating, by the PMU circuitry based on status of the EM control loop and the thermal control loop, reason code data that indicates a set of control loops that are currently engaged; and transmitting, by the PMU circuitry, the reason code data to the processor circuitry.

16 . The method of claim 14 , wherein the EM control loop and the thermal control loop are nested loops and the PMU circuitry generates an output target temperature for the thermal control loop based on the output of the EM control loop.

17 . The method of claim 11 , further comprising:
generating, by the PMU circuitry, a second signal to the processor circuitry in response to a temperature measurement from the power circuitry meeting a temperature threshold; and powering down, by the processor circuitry, in response to the second signal.

18 . The method of claim 11 , further comprising:
independently generating, by multiple PMU circuits that control different sets of power converters, reduction alert signals based on PMU-implemented EM control loops; and performing, by the processor circuitry, targeted performance reduction for portions of the processor circuitry that are powered by one or more PMU circuits that assert reduction alert signals.

19 . The method of claim 11 , wherein the outputting uses push telemetry circuitry that initiates signals to the processor circuitry based on values in push telemetry storage and the PMU circuitry provides output data from the EM control loop to the push telemetry storage.

20 . A non-transitory computer readable storage medium having stored thereon design information that specifies a design of at least a portion of a hardware integrated circuit in a format recognized by a semiconductor fabrication system that is configured to use the design information to produce the circuit according to the design, wherein the design information specifies that the circuit includes:
processor circuitry included on a first chip; a power converter configured to power the processor circuitry via one or more rails; power management unit (PMU) circuitry, on a second chip, configured to:
implement an electromigration (EM) control loop that operates on electrical current measurement data from the power converter as an input; and
output a reduction alert signal to the processor circuitry, via an inter-chip communications interconnect coupled to the first and second chips, based on an output of the EM control loop;
wherein the processor circuitry is configured to reduce its processing activity in response to the reduction alert signal.

Assignees

• Apple Inc

Inventors

• Sodhi Inder M
• Zahir Achmed R
• Yamberger Carmel
• Perretta Daniele
• Krellner Jan
• Neuman Ron
• Ismail James S
• Cox Keith

Classifications

• G06F1/28

  Supervision thereof, e.g. detecting power-supply failure by out of limits supervision · CPC title

• G06F11/3058 Primary

  Monitoring arrangements for monitoring environmental properties or parameters of the computing system or of the computing system component, e.g. monitoring of power, currents, temperature, humidity, position, vibrations (thermal management in cooling arrangements of a computing system G06F1/206) · CPC title

• G06F1/206 Primary

  comprising thermal management · CPC title

• G06F1/324

  by lowering clock frequency · CPC title

• G06F1/3206

  Monitoring of events, devices or parameters that trigger a change in power modality · CPC title