Adaptive voltage input to a charge pump

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9355688-B2
Application number	US-201213976791-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 8, 2012
Priority date	May 8, 2012
Publication date	May 31, 2016
Grant date	May 31, 2016

Abstract

A memory subsystem includes an adaptive output voltage to provide a voltage based on a power profile of a memory device of the memory subsystem. A charge pump increases the voltage to a level needed to write data to the memory device. The voltage provided is based on the power profile of the memory device, which indicates a voltage level that provides good efficiency for the charge pump, and is within maximum levels for the memory device. The voltage can be higher than a nominal voltage indicated for the memory device in a specification.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A memory subsystem comprising:
a memory device to store data, the memory device to receive an input voltage at a first voltage level, wherein data is written to the memory device using a second voltage level that is higher than the first voltage level;
a charge pump to increase the input voltage from the first voltage level to the second voltage level; and
an adaptive voltage supply to provide the first voltage level based on a power profile of the memory device, the power profile indicating a maximum input voltage level for the memory device, wherein the adaptive voltage supply is to provide the first voltage level at a level that is higher than a nominal voltage level indicated by a specification for the memory device, the adaptive voltage supply further comprising a digitally controlled variable voltage divider.

2. The memory subsystem of claim 1 , wherein the memory device comprises a dynamic random access memory (DRAM) device.

3. The memory subsystem of claim 1 , wherein the charge pump is to lower a duty cycle of a switch based on the first voltage level.

4. The memory subsystem of claim 1 , wherein the first voltage level at the level higher than the nominal voltage level comprises a voltage level that is a tolerance amount lower than the maximum voltage level for the memory device.

5. The memory subsystem of claim 4 , wherein the tolerance amount comprises a tolerance amount computed based on a reactive component of the power profile for the memory device.

6. The memory subsystem of claim 1 , wherein the adaptive voltage supply further comprises a digital to analog converter.

7. An electronic device comprising:
a memory subsystem comprising:
a memory device to store data, the memory device to receive an input voltage at a first voltage level, wherein writing data to the memory device uses a second voltage level that is higher than the first voltage level;
a charge pump to increase the input voltage from the first voltage level to the second voltage level; and
an adaptive voltage supply to provide the first voltage level based on a power profile of the memory device, the power profile indicating a maximum input voltage level for the memory device, wherein the adaptive voltage supply is to provide the first voltage level at a level that is higher than a nominal voltage level indicated by a specification for the memory device, the higher level being a voltage level that is a tolerance amount lower than the maximum input voltage for the memory device, wherein the adaptive voltage supply further comprises a digitally controlled variable voltage divider; and

a multicore processor coupled to the memory subsystem to access the memory subsystem during execution of the processor.

8. The device of claim 7 , wherein the memory device comprises a dynamic random access memory (DRAM) device.

9. The device of claim 7 , wherein the charge pump is to lower a duty cycle of a switch based on the first voltage level.

10. The device of claim 7 , wherein the tolerance amount comprises a tolerance amount computed based on a reactive component of the power profile for the memory device.

11. A method comprising:
receiving an input voltage at a voltage regulator;
determining a power profile of a memory device coupled to the voltage regulator;
adjusting an output voltage of the voltage regulator based on the power profile, wherein adjusting the output voltage comprises adjusting the output voltage to a level higher than a nominal voltage level indicated by a specification for the memory device, and a tolerance amount lower than the maximum voltage level for the memory device and wherein adjusting the output voltage of the voltage regulator further comprises digitally controlling a variable voltage divider that produces a voltage that is coupled to said voltage regulator; and
providing the adjusted output voltage to a charge pump of the memory device, wherein the charge pump is to increase the output voltage to a stepped-up voltage level used for writing data to the memory device.

12. The method of claim 11 , further comprising decreasing a duty cycle of a switch of the charge pump based on the adjusted output voltage.

13. The method of claim 11 , wherein adjusting the output voltage further comprises computing the tolerance amount based on a reactive component of the power profile for the memory device.

14. The method of claim 11 , wherein adjusting the output voltage level further comprises digitally controlling the voltage level.

15. The method of claim 14 , wherein digitally controlling the voltage level further comprises generating a digital signal to control a digital to analog converter to adjust the output voltage.

16. An apparatus, comprising:
a variable voltage control circuit comprising:
an input to receive profile information concerning a voltage level of a memory device;
an output to provide a first voltage to a charge pump based on the profile information, the charge pump to pump the first voltage to a higher voltage for the memory device, the first voltage being higher than a nominal voltage level indicated by a specification for the memory device;

a digitally controlled variable voltage divider.

17. The apparatus of claim 16 further comprising circuitry to determine the first voltage.

18. The apparatus of claim 16 wherein the first voltage is just below the higher voltage.

19. The apparatus of claim 16 wherein the information identifies a maximum voltage level of the memory device.

20. The apparatus of claim 16 wherein the information identifies the higher level voltage.

21. The apparatus of claim 16 wherein the specification is a JEDEC specification.

22. The apparatus of claim 16 wherein the input is to be coupled to one of:
the memory device;
a BIOS circuit.

Assignees

• Bains Kuljit
• Vergis George
• Intel Corp

Inventors

• Bains Kuljit
• Vergis George

Classifications

• G11C29/021

  in voltage or current generators · CPC title

• G11C11/4074

  Power supply or voltage generation circuits, e.g. bias voltage generators, substrate voltage generators, back-up power, power control circuits · CPC title

• G11C5/145 Primary

  Applications of charge pumps; Boosted voltage circuits; Clamp circuits therefor (G11C5/141 takes precedence) · CPC title

• G11C29/028

  with adaption or trimming of parameters · CPC title