Integrated circuit device, voltage regulation circuitry and method for regulating a voltage supply signal

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9429966-B2
Application number	US-201113979860-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 31, 2011
Priority date	Jan 31, 2011
Publication date	Aug 30, 2016
Grant date	Aug 30, 2016

Abstract

An integrated circuit (IC) device is provided that includes at least one internal voltage regulator arranged to receive a voltage supply signal at a first input thereof, receive a control signal at a second input thereof, regulate the received voltage supply signal in accordance with the received control signal, and provide a regulated voltage supply signal at an output thereof. The IC device further includes at least one voltage regulation power control module operably coupled to the second input of the at least one internal voltage regulator and arranged to provide the control signal thereto. The voltage regulation power control module is further arranged to receive at least one IC device conditional indication, and generate the control signal for the at least one internal voltage regulator based at least partly on an available thermal power budget for the IC device corresponding to the at least one IC device conditional indication.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. An integrated circuit (IC) device comprising:
at least one internal voltage regulator arranged to
receive a voltage supply signal at a first input thereof,
receive a control signal at a second input thereof,
regulate the received voltage supply signal in accordance with the received control signal, and
provide a regulated voltage supply signal at an output thereof;
at least one voltage regulation power control module operably coupled to the second input of the at least one internal voltage regulator and arranged to
provide the control signal thereto,
receive at least one IC device conditional indication, and
generate the control signal for the least one internal voltage regulator based at least partly on an available thermal power budget for the IC device corresponding to the at least one IC device conditional indication, wherein the at least one voltage regulation power control module is arranged to generate the control signal to cause the at least one internal voltage regulator to enter a bypass mode, and, in response to the control signal, the at least one internal voltage regulator provides the received voltage supply signal unregulated at an output thereof, if the available thermal power budget for the IC device corresponding to the at least one IC device conditional indication is less than a threshold value.

2. The IC device of claim 1 further comprising:
at least one external voltage regulator for generating the voltage supply signal received at the first input of the at least one internal voltage regulator, wherein each of the at least one external voltage regulator is operably coupled to a corresponding one of the at least one voltage regulation power control module.

3. The IC device of claim 2 wherein the voltage regulator power control module is arranged to configure the external voltage regulator to output a voltage supply signal regulated to a required voltage level, if the available thermal power budget for the IC device corresponding to the at least one IC device conditional indication is less than a threshold value.

4. The IC device of claim 1 wherein the voltage regulation power control module is arranged to generate a control signal to cause the at least one internal voltage regulator to output a regulated voltage supply signal regulated to a required voltage level, if the available thermal power budget for the IC device corresponding to the at least one IC device conditional indication is greater than the threshold value.

5. The IC device of claim 1 wherein the threshold value corresponds to a required thermal power budget for the at least one internal voltage regulator.

6. The IC device of claim 5 wherein the voltage regulation power control module is further arranged to receive an indication of an operating frequency for the IC device, and to determine a required thermal power budget for the at least one internal voltage regulator based at least partly on the indication of the operating frequency.

7. The IC device of claim 1 wherein the at least one IC device conditional indication comprises at least one from a group consisting of:
an indication of a process corner for the IC device;
an indication of an ambient temperature for the IC device;
an indication of a per junction temperature for the IC device;
an indication of a level of system activity within the IC device;
an indication of a system configuration within the IC device.

8. The IC device of claim 1 wherein the available thermal power budget for the IC device is determined based at least partly on a thermal power limit for the IC device and a determined power consumption for internal System on Chip (SoC) modules for the IC device.

9. The IC device of claim 1 wherein the voltage regulation power control module is further arranged to receive an indication of a required voltage level at which the voltage supply signal is to be regulated.

10. The IC device of claim 1 wherein the at least one internal voltage regulator comprises a low drop-out (LDO) voltage regulator.

11. A method for regulating a voltage supply signal within an integrated circuit (IC) device, the method comprising:
determining a required thermal power budget for the at least one internal voltage regulator; and
configuring at least one internal voltage regulator of the IC device based at least partly on an available thermal power budget for an IC device corresponding to an at least one IC device conditional indication, wherein at least one voltage regulation power control module is arranged to generate a control signal to cause the at least one internal voltage regulator to enter a bypass mode, with the at least one internal voltage regulator providing the received voltage supply signal unregulated at an output of the internal voltage regulator corresponding to the at least one IC device conditional indication indicating the available thermal power budget for the IC device being less than a threshold value.

12. The method of claim 11 wherein the method further comprises:
determining the available thermal power budget for the IC device; and
configuring the at least one internal voltage regulator based at least partly on a comparison between the available thermal power budget for the IC device and the required thermal power budget for the at least one internal voltage regulator.

13. The method of claim 12 further comprising configuring a bypass mode for the at least one internal voltage regulator if the determined required thermal power budget for the at least one internal voltage regulator is greater than the determined available thermal power budget for the IC device.

14. An integrated circuit (IC) device comprising:
at least one internal voltage regulator arranged to
receive a voltage supply signal at a first input thereof,
receive a control signal at a second input thereof,
regulate the received voltage supply signal in accordance with the received control signal, and
provide a regulated voltage supply signal at an output thereof;
at least one voltage regulation power control module operably coupled to the second input of the at least one internal voltage regulator and arranged to
provide the control signal thereto,
receive at least one IC device conditional indication, and
generate, by accessing a look up table, the control signal for the at least one internal voltage regulator based at least partly on an available thermal power budget for the IC device corresponding to the at least one IC device conditional indication, and, in response to the control signal with the available thermal power budget for the IC device corresponding to the at least one IC device conditional indication being less than a threshold value, the at least one internal voltage regulator enters a bypass mode and provides the received voltage supply signal unregulated at an output thereof.

15. The IC device of claim 14 wherein the available thermal power budget for the IC device takes into account variations of an internal voltage regulator available thermal power budget for the at least one internal voltage regulator.

16. The IC device of claim 15 wherein the variations of the internal voltage regulator available thermal power budget result from variations in ambient temperature.

17. The IC device of claim 15 wherein the variations of the internal voltage regulator available thermal power budget result from variations in per junction temperature.

18. The IC device of claim 14 wherein the available thermal power budget for the IC device is based at least partly on a dete

Assignees

• Priel Michael
• Kuzmin Dan
• Rozen Anton
• Freescale Semiconductor Inc

Inventors

• Priel Michael
• Kuzmin Dan
• Rozen Anton

Classifications

• G05F1/462 Primary

  as a function of the requirements of the load, e.g. delay, temperature, specific voltage/current characteristic · CPC title

• G11C16/30

  Power supply circuits · CPC title

• G11C5/147

  Voltage reference generators, voltage or current regulators; Internally lowered supply levels; Compensation for voltage drops (G11C5/141 takes precedence) · CPC title

• G11C7/04

  with means for avoiding disturbances due to temperature effects · CPC title