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Challenges
Nithin S K, Gowrysankar Shanmugam, Sreeram Chandrasekar
Texas Instruments India
E-mail: {nithin,gowrysankar,sreeram}@ti.com
Abstract—Dynamic voltage (IR) drop, unlike the static and signoff (timing, IR Drop, EM, reliability etc.) com-
voltage drop depends on the switching activity of the de- prehending Dynamic IR drop effects realistically. On one
sign, and hence it is vector dependent. In this paper we hand, the factors that introduce pessimism in Dynamic
have highlighted the pitfalls in the common design closure voltage drop analysis have to be removed, while on the
methodology that addresses static IR drop well, but of- other we must ensure the methodology ensures robust cov-
ten fails to bound the impact of dynamic voltage drops erage of various silicon conditions and design operating
robustly. Factors that can affect the accuracy of dynamic scenarios. We then discuss power distribution and power
IR analysis and the related metrics for design closure are grid planning methodology, and highlight the various as-
discussed. A structured approach to planning the power pects that need to be taken care of, from the early stages
distribution and grid for power managed designs is then of design implementation. We also demonstrate some of
presented, with an emphasis to cover realistic application the systematic power grid enhancements like robust au-
scenarios, and how it can be done early in the design cy- tomated switch placement and switched supply resistance
cle. Care-about and solutions to avoid and fix the Dynamic minimization through DRC-aware power metal fill. All
voltage drop issues are also presented. Results are from in- the discussions and results are based on production im-
dustrial designs in 45nm process are presented related to plementations of low power application processors for mo-
the said topics. bile and hand-held devices. The designs include high fre-
Keywords—Dynamic voltage Drop, DvD, Dynamic IR, quency CPU cores, multimedia subsystems (like imaging
Peak power, Power switch, VCD, Power gate, SDF. and video). The numbers quoted are from the analysis
and/or simulation.
The structure of the paper is as follows. In section II ,
I. Introduction
the commonly followed Dynamic IR methodology and its
Designing an optimal power grid which is robust across pitfalls are highlighted with design results. In section III
multiple operating scenarios of a chip continues to be a ma- the issues related to analysis accuracy and signoff method-
jor challenge.[1][2][3] The problem has magnified with tech- ology are discussed. Section IV then elaborates how we
nology shrinking allowing more performance to be packed went about planning the power distribution and the tech-
in a smaller area, from one node to another [4]. The power niques used to ensure silicon robustness in the tolerant to
distribution on a chip needs to ensure circuit robustness Dynamic IR drop.
catering to not only to the average power / current re-
quirements, but also needs to ensure timing or reliability is II. Common Design Closure Methodology and Its
not affected due to Dynamic IR drop, caused by localized Pitfalls
power demand and switching patterns. [5]
A. Overview Of Static Vs Dynamic IR Drop
Further, amongst today’s devices power management
techniques like power gating and switch power supplies are Static IR drop is average voltage drop for the de-
the norms [6][7][8]. In the case of switched power sup- sign.[12][13], whereas Dynamic IR drop depends on the
plies, typically, power switch cells are uniformly distributed switching activity of the logic[11], hence is vector depen-
across the standard cell logic (logic gates) area of the floor- dent. Dynamic IR drop depends on the switching time of
plan. There may be further sub-divisions in the switched the logic, and is less dependent on the a clock period. This
power grid in the form of power domains, depending on the nature is illustrated in Fig 1. The Average current depends
granularity of power gating [10]. These power switches add totally on the time period, where as the dynamic IR drop
an additional dimension to the power distribution problem depends on the instantanious current which is higher while
as they often limit the response of the power grid to dy- the cell is switching.
namic power or current needs. While the power distribu- Static IR drop was good for signoff analysis in older
tion robustness can be improved easily by increasing the technology nodes where sufficient natural decoupling ca-
number of power switches, it has an impact on the off- pacitance from the power network and non-switching logic
mode leakage (Iddq) and hence battery life in handheld were available. Where as Dynamic IR drop Evaluates the
applications. So clearly, the requirement is also to mini- IR drop caused when large amounts of circuitry switch si-
mize the number of switches used as well as minimize the multaneously, causing peak current demand[1][14]. This
signal routing resources utilized on the power grid. current demand could be highly localized and could be
This paper discusses the issues related to design closure brief within a single clock cycle (a few hundred ps), and
Fig. 1. Average Current Over A Window Fig. 2. Effect Of Low Switch Density In Notch
TABLE I
Dynamic IR Drop Annotated Timing higher average power during the high-power sub-window,
else the device would not function as per design. An exam-
ple of this is shown in Fig. 8, where the application average
power is about 214 mW where as the average power over a
IV. Methodology For power Grid Design For Ro- sub-window is 367mW. This sub window extends over a few
bust Dynamic IR hundred clock cycles. In this case, the grid has to support
In this section, the care-about in planning the power dis- 367 mW of average power and not 214mW. Hence, choos-
tribution (grid, switches) for power managed designs are ing the right average power for designing the grid would
discussed. Knowledge of the design operating scenarios help the design scale up to not just dynamic voltage drop
and architecture play a key role in ensuring the robust- issues, but even to sustain the average cases more robustly.
ness across scenarios. Some techniques to improve power
grid robustness through simple physical implementation B. Early Dynamic IR Analysis
schemes such as power metal fill and decap planning are One of the difficulties in evaluating the dynamic IR im-
also touched upon. pact on SOCs or complex designs (IPs) is to get vectors
for sufficient scenarios, and to get them in time to detect
A. Choosing The Right Average Power issues before the design tapes out. Our Early Analysis flow
The choice of the average power value for which the addresses this issue. In this flow, the switching activity of a
power distribution is designed for is critical. It is common sub IP is integrated at the top level, and switching activity
practice to design for the average power seen in the use case at the top level is created, for use in dynamic IR analysis.
that consumes the highest power. However, there can be a Using this flow, we were able to identify certain architec-
sub-window within the application window, for which the tural hot-spots for dynamic IR drop, like cases of crossbar
average power is much higher than that of the entire use interconnects interacting with shared memories having very
case time. It is obvious that the grid has to support this high power density. The results obtained from this flow
Fig. 11. Region Based Switch Density
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