Plymouth, UK (4th Aug 2014) – Moortec Semiconductor, provider of high accuracy on-chip temperature sensors for advanced-node CMOS technologies, announces its Voltage Transient Monitor (VTM) IP which is a part of its Moortec Embedded Die Sensor (MEDS) family. The VTM is a self-contained IP block specially designed to monitor dynamic supply voltage conditions at a continuous sample rate of 1MHz. Depending on the variant chosen by the customer the VTM will monitor either a core or an I/O supply domain. The VTM is part of Moortec's voltage monitoring IP family and sits between the existing Voltage Monitor, which monitors the steady-state conditions of up to 9 core supply domains and the Glitch Detector planned for later this year which will detect fast transient and supply spike events.
As millions of transistors on advanced node CMOS technologies are integrated into a single chip, the transient analysis of power/ground (P/G) networks becomes a challenging task due to their ever increasing size. The susceptibility of core circuits, utilizing large scale P/G networks, to supply variation is an area of interest to chip developers. By being able to capture dynamic voltage fluctuations in situ and perform transient analysis of the P/G network, not only can alerts be generated under poor supply conditions but also guidance toward the next iteration or generation of chip design can be offered. The embedded monitoring of supplies is also complimentary to SPICE simulation methods, allowing theoretical and actual on-chip conditions to be compared.
“Whether for power or speed, advanced node design is all about performance optimisation and this can only be achieved if you truly know the actual conditions on-chip,” said Oliver King, CTO of Moortec Semiconductor. “Accompanying the supply simulation methodologies that already exist, I believe the ability to monitor highly dynamic supply conditions will have a major role in the sensing and management of our devices manufactured on 40nm, 28nm and below,” King continued to add.
With a measurement accuracy of +/-3% over the supply range, the VTM is specified for operation over the temperature range of -40C to 125C. The monitor IP has outside-of-supply-range alerts, requires no calibration or off-chip components and uses only standard CMOS process layers. The analog IP has digital interfacing that allows for easy customer integration and a high level of testability in production. With accurate and responsive supply monitoring applied to each device, and when considering the greater process variability in the manufacture of advanced node devices, developers are able to deploy performance optimisation schemes, such as Dynamic Voltage and Frequency Scaling (DVFS), with a greater sensitivity.
“By providing a complete PVT monitoring solution, Moortec believe that each and every advanced node device manufactured in the future can be performance optimised and be statistically analysed for device variability on a scale not seen before. Moortec believe that PVT harvested data from in-chip monitors will significantly assist the development of strategies to help mitigate the wider process variability seen on advanced node technologies,” King added.
About Moortec Semiconductor
Moortec Semiconductor, established in 2005, provide high quality analog and mixed-signal IP blocks as well as Custom Chip solutions world-wide for a variety of applications. Having a track record of delivery to tier-1 semiconductor and product companies, Moortec provide a quick and efficient path to market for customer products and innovations. For information please visit www.moortec.com.