Power Gating Cell Structure With Central Wide Fin Region
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Solution Overview
Problem
The semiconductor integrated circuit (IC) industry faces challenges in reducing chip area and improving power conversion efficiency while maintaining cost-effectiveness, as conventional power gating cell layouts require large chip areas and high power consumption.
Innovation Solution
The implementation of a power gating cell design featuring a wide active region in the central area and multiple normal active regions in the peripheral area, with the wide active region having more than three fin structures and normal active regions having one, two, or three fin structures, optimizing chip area usage and reducing IR drop.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Area of stationary object
If conventional power gating cell layouts are used, then power supply disconnection function is achieved, but chip area is large and power consumption is high
Solution Approach 1:
The power gating cell is segmented into distinct functional regions: a central region containing the power supply disconnection switch (PMOS transistor) and peripheral regions containing normal active regions with fin structures. This segmentation allows optimized placement of power-saving components away from high-density logic areas, reducing overall chip area while maintaining low power consumption during standby mode.
Solution Approach 2:
Different regions of the power gating cell are assigned different structural qualities: the central region uses a wide active region with more than three fin structures for effective power disconnection, while peripheral regions use normal active regions with one to three fin structures. This local differentiation optimizes both power saving performance and area efficiency by placing appropriate structures in appropriate locations.
2Power
If wide active region with more than three fin structures is used in central area, then power conversion efficiency is improved and IR drop is reduced, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The number of fin structures in the wide active region is changed to more than three, which directly improves power conversion efficiency and reduces IR drop by increasing the effective conductive area. This parameter change is localized to the central region only, allowing the rest of the device to maintain simpler structures with one to three fins, thus balancing performance improvement with controlled complexity.
Data Source
AI summary
A power gating cell on an integrated circuit is provided. The power gating cell includes: a central area; a peripheral area surrounding the central area; a first active region located in the central area, the first active region having a first width in a first direction corresponding to at least four fin structures extending in a second direction perpendicular to the first direction; and a plurality of second active regions located in the peripheral area, each second active region having a second width in the first direction corresponding to at least one and no more than three fin structures extending in the second direction.