IC Bank Segmentation for Power Assist Tuning
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current integrated circuit (IC) designs consume excessive power due to overdesigning to accommodate weak cells, as they treat all cells as if they are 5.2-sigma weak, leading to unnecessary power consumption and performance limitations, despite most cells being robust and capable of reliable operation without assist measures.
Innovation Solution
The method involves configuring ICs with repeated cells into banks, where each bank is individually tunable based on its specific failure characteristics, providing power and operational assists only to weak cells and using power-saving measures for robust cells, allowing for finer granularity in assist settings to improve overall IC performance and yield.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If higher operating voltage is applied to improve readability, stability and writability of weak cells, then reliability is improved, but power consumption increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the IC into multiple banks of cells, allowing each bank to be independently configured with appropriate assist measures. This enables robust cells to operate without power assist while weak cells receive targeted assistance, resolving the contradiction by applying voltage increases only where necessary rather than uniformly across all cells.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent implements local quality by providing different operational characteristics to different parts of the system. Specifically, it configures each bank with tailored assist measures based on its specific weakness profile, allowing weak cells to receive higher voltage assistance locally while robust cells operate at standard voltage, thereby improving reliability only where needed and minimizing overall power consumption.
2Reliability
If assist measures are applied to all cells to guard against failures, then reliability is improved, but power consumption and speed performance deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces dynamic configurability where each bank can be independently tuned based on its actual performance characteristics. The system dynamically determines the appropriate assist level for each bank and configures it accordingly, allowing robust banks to operate at full speed without assist measures while weak banks receive targeted assistance, thus maintaining overall IC performance while ensuring reliability.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent changes operational parameters (voltage, timing, assist enablement) on a per-bank basis rather than applying uniform settings across the entire IC. By adjusting these parameters according to each bank's specific weakness profile, the system achieves reliable operation of all cells while minimizing the performance impact, as most banks can operate with aggressive timing and lower voltage.
3Device complexity
If uniform design assumptions are used for all cells, then device complexity is reduced, but manufacturing yield deteriorates due to undetected weak cells
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements preliminary characterization of each bank's weakness profile during manufacturing or initialization. By performing this assessment early and configuring assist measures accordingly before the IC enters normal operation, the system identifies and addresses weak cells without adding complex runtime detection logic, thus maintaining design simplicity while improving manufacturing yield through targeted compensation.
Data Source
AI summary
Methods and structures for configuring an integrated circuit including repeated cells that are divided into banks having a respective power assist and a respective operational assist are provided. A method includes configuring the banks without power assist and operational assist. The method further includes selecting the power assist for a bank based on a determination that a weak cell remains in the bank after configuring the bank with the respective operational assist.