SOC Power Measurement via Domain Segmentation
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional system-on-chip (SOC) designs face challenges in accurately measuring idle and dynamic power consumption, which are crucial for determining battery life, thermal design, and chassis efficiency in mobile platforms, due to the difficulty in isolating and controlling logic and power domains.
Innovation Solution
The SOC is made fully controllable to facilitate external configuration, allowing for precise power measurements by separating internal logic blocks into power domains, using power management blocks with clock gating and simulation techniques to measure individual component power consumption.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Area of stationary object
If components are highly integrated on a single chip, then chip area is saved and signal quality is improved, but power consumption measurement of individual components becomes difficult
Solution Approach 1:
The chip is divided into multiple power domains, each containing specific logic blocks or components. Power management blocks control power supply to each domain independently, enabling separate measurement of power consumption for each domain while maintaining high integration on the single chip.
2Device complexity
If logic and power domains are not isolated, then integration is maintained, but external isolation for measurement purposes becomes difficult
Solution Approach 1:
Power management blocks act as intermediary components between the external measurement system and the internal power domains. These blocks provide controlled access to power domains, enabling external measurement instruments to measure power consumption of specific domains without requiring physical isolation or disassembly of the integrated chip.
3Ease of manufacture
If power domains are not separately controllable, then design is simpler, but accurate measurement of individual component power consumption is not possible
Solution Approach 1:
The power management blocks provide dynamic control over power domains, allowing the system to selectively enable or disable power supply to specific domains based on measurement requirements. This dynamic controllability enables precise measurement of individual component power consumption while maintaining a relatively simple overall design architecture.
Data Source
AI summary
A method and system to enable power measurements of a system-on-chip in various modes. In one embodiment of the invention, the system-on-chip has full controllability of its logic and circuitry to facilitate configuration of the system-on-chip into a desired mode of operation. This allows hooks or interfaces to access the system-on-chip externally for measurements. For example, in one embodiment of the invention, the hooks in the system-on-chip allow a backend tester to configure the system-on-chip into various modes easily to perform power consumption measurements of one or more individual components of the system-on-chip. The power consumption measurement of the individual components in the system-on-chip can be performed faster and can be more accurate. In addition, the overall yield of the SOC can be increased as it is easier to detect failure parts.