A built-in technique for probing power supply and ground noise distribution within large-scale digital integrated circuits

• Published in: IEEE journal of solid-state circuits Vol. 40; no. 4; pp. 813 - 819
• Main Authors: Nagata, M., Okumoto, T., Taki, K.
• Format: Journal Article Conference Proceeding
• Language: English
• Published: New York, NY IEEE 01.04.2005; Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers; The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. (IEEE)
• Subjects: Applied sciences; Circuit properties; Circuits; CMOS technology; Design. Technologies. Operation analysis. Testing; Detectors; Digital; Digital circuits; Digital integrated circuits; Electric, optical and optoelectronic circuits; Electronic circuits; Electronic equipment and fabrication. Passive components, printed wiring boards, connectics; Electronics; Embedded detector; Exact sciences and technology; General equipment and techniques; ground noise; Grounds; Instruments, apparatus, components and techniques common to several branches of physics and astronomy; Integrated circuit noise; Integrated circuits; Large scale integration; Logic circuits; Logic design; Noise; Physics; Power measurement; Power supplies; power supply noise; Semiconductor electronics. Microelectronics. Optoelectronics. Solid state devices; Sensors (chemical, optical, electrical, movement, gas, etc.); remote sensing; signal integrity; substrate noise; Voltage; LSI circuit; High density; Measurement sensor; Detector circuits; Power supply; signal integrity; Complementary MOS technology; power supply noise; Digital integrated circuits; Embedded detector; Integrated circuit; Digital circuit; substrate noise; Circuit noise; ground noise
• ISSN: 0018-9200; 1558-173X
• DOI: 10.1109/JSSC.2005.845559

Design of noise detector circuits as compact as standard logic cells is proposed. High-density large-scale digital integrated circuits that embed such built-in noise detectors enable in-depth characterization of dynamic power supply and ground noises. Dependence of power supply and ground voltage drops on the location of active cell rows within 1.8-V standard cell-based digital circuits are consistently measured by 1.8- and 2.5-V built-in detectors fabricated in a 0.18-/spl mu/m CMOS triple-well technology. Measurements also show that ground noise distribution is distinctively more localized than power supply counterparts due to the presence of a substrate.