Internal Power Supply Circuit With Switchable Supply Units
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current internal power supply circuits in semiconductor devices often have excessive current supply capabilities due to manufacturing variability, leading to wasteful consumption currents despite adjustments in the internal power supply voltage.
Innovation Solution
The implementation of a power supply circuit with multiple power supply units connected in common to an internal power supply wiring, along with a control circuit that activates or deactivates these units, and an oscillator circuit that generates periodic signals for charging and discharging capacitors, allowing for precise control of current supply capability.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If the design value of current supply capability is set larger than the minimum required value to account for manufacturing variability, then the reliability of power supply is improved, but the consumption current becomes excessive and wasteful
Solution Approach 1:
The internal power supply circuit is divided into multiple independent power supply units (first power supply unit, second power supply unit, etc.), each capable of being independently activated or deactivated. This segmentation allows the system to provide different current supply capabilities by selectively enabling specific units, thereby matching the actual power needs and avoiding excessive consumption current while maintaining sufficient power supply reliability.
Solution Approach 2:
The power supply units are equipped with activation/deactivation control capability through control circuits and storage circuits that store activation information. This dynamic control mechanism allows the system to adaptively adjust the number of active power supply units based on actual requirements, transforming a static excessive-capacity design into a dynamic optimized configuration that reduces energy loss while ensuring reliability.
2Manufacturing precision
If fuse trimming is used to adjust the internal power supply voltage level, then the voltage accuracy is improved, but the current supply capability cannot be optimized
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of using a single adjustable parameter approach (fuse trimming for voltage only), the invention segments the power supply function into multiple independent power supply units. Each unit can be independently controlled through activation information stored in storage circuits, enabling separate optimization of voltage level (through existing fuse trimming) and current supply capability (through selective unit activation), thereby achieving both voltage accuracy and current adaptability.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention changes the control parameter from单一的 voltage adjustment via fuse trimming to a combined approach: voltage level is controlled through fuse trimming while current supply capability is controlled through the activation state of multiple power supply units. This multi-parameter control strategy enables independent optimization of both voltage accuracy and current supply adaptability.
Data Source
AI summary
To provide an internal power supply circuit that supplies a power supply voltage to an internal circuit of a semiconductor device via an internal power supply wiring, the internal power supply circuit includes a plurality of power supply units connected in common to the internal power supply wiring and an internal-power-supply control circuit that selects either activation or deactivation with regard to at least a part of the power supply units.