Integrated Circuit Memory Repair Storage and Dynamic Voltage Adjustment
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Solution Overview
Problem
Integrated circuits face power consumption issues and reliability problems due to reduced power supply voltage, leading to increased failures and soft errors in memory arrays, which are exacerbated by decreasing transistor sizes.
Innovation Solution
An integrated circuit with storage elements for repair information that includes non-volatile storage using fuses, allowing for re-configurable bit fields to store repair data for various modules, and a method to adjust operating conditions by selecting appropriate voltages and enabling read/write assists to ensure reliable operation.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Use of energy by moving object
If power supply voltage is lowered to reduce power consumption, then power consumption is reduced, but reliability deteriorates due to increased soft errors and read failures
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements dynamic voltage adjustment where the memory array voltage is changed based on operation type (read/write) and error correction needs. The system selectively boosts voltage during read operations to improve read margins while maintaining lower voltage during write operations to reduce power consumption, thus dynamically resolving the contradiction between power savings and reliability
Solution Approach 2:
The patent changes the voltage parameter of the memory array based on operational requirements. By adjusting the voltage level according to whether the operation is read or write, and whether error correction is needed, the system optimizes both power consumption and reliability by matching voltage levels to specific operational demands
2Reliability
If power supply voltage is increased to improve read margins, then read reliability is improved, but power consumption increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system dynamically adjusts voltage only during read operations when improved read margins are needed, rather than maintaining high voltage continuously. This dynamic approach allows the system to achieve better read reliability only when necessary, thereby limiting the increase in overall power consumption
Solution Approach 2:
The voltage boosting is applied periodically or selectively based on read operation requirements rather than continuously. The system activates higher voltage only during specific read operations that need improved margins, and returns to lower voltage for other operations, creating a periodic pattern that balances reliability and power consumption
3Quantity of substance
If transistor sizes are decreased to increase integration density, then manufacturing capacity is improved, but susceptibility to soft errors increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements preliminary error detection and correction mechanisms that are activated based on voltage-dependent error patterns. By预先 establishing error correction codes and detection mechanisms, the system can identify and correct soft errors that occur in smaller transistors, thus compensating for increased susceptibility while maintaining high integration density
Solution Approach 2:
The system uses feedback from error detection mechanisms to adjust operation parameters and trigger correction procedures. When soft errors are detected in the high-density memory array, the feedback mechanism activates correction protocols, allowing the system to maintain reliability despite using smaller, more densely packed transistors
Data Source
AI summary
A storage unit on an integrated circuit stores information that identifies a circuit on the integrated circuit, a selected operating condition, and a required operating configuration for the circuit for the selected operating condition. The manner of operating the circuit is changed to the required operating configuration in response to an operating condition of the circuit changing to the selected operating condition. This allows for efficiently identifying the few circuits that do not meet specified requirements based on a reduction in, for example, operating voltage, and altering their operation in order to meet the specified requirements relative to the reduced operating voltage without having to do so for the vast majority of the circuits that are able to meet the requirements at the lowered operating voltage.