TWI755615B - Method for controlling current flowing into circuit module and associated chip - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention provides a chip including a circuit module, a power switch and a detection and control circuit. The power switch is coupled between a supply voltage and the circuit module, and is used to selectively connect the supply voltage to the circuit module, and control a current amount flowing into the circuit module according to at least a control signal. The detection and control circuit is coupled to the power switch, and is used to detect a first signal generated by a first circuit positioned surrounding the circuit module, and compare the first signal with a second signal in a real-time manner to generate the control signal to adjust the current amount flowing into the circuit module.

Description

Method for controlling the amount of current flowing into a circuit module and related chip

The present invention relates to a method for controlling the amount of current flowing into a circuit module and related chips.

In a circuit design considering low power consumption, a power switch is usually used to power off and power on the circuit module, so as to achieve the goal of reducing leakage current consumption. However, when the power switch is turned on to make the circuit module enter the power-on state from the power-off state, if the limitation of the instantaneous maximum current is not considered, the voltage drop of the peripheral components of the circuit module may be too high, and further Causes problems in the function or timing of peripheral components.

In order to solve the problem of the above instantaneous maximum current being too high, electronic design automation software can be used for analysis, and different power switch architectures can be used to sequentially increase the current flowing into the circuit module. However, the results simulated in the analysis stage are not The actual operating conditions of the chip cannot be accurately reflected, so the designed power switch structure cannot be dynamically adjusted according to the state of the chip, which may affect the efficiency of the circuit module when the power is turned on.

Therefore, one of the objectives of the present invention is to provide a method for controlling the amount of current flowing into the circuit module method, which can instantly detect whether the circuit module will affect the surrounding components during the process of power-off to power-on, so as to dynamically adjust the amount of current flowing into the circuit module, so as not to affect the surrounding components. To achieve the best power-on efficiency.

In one embodiment of the present invention, a chip including a switchable electrical region is disclosed, which includes a circuit module, a power switch, and at least a detection and control circuit, wherein the power switch is coupled to a supply voltage and Between the circuit modules, the supply voltage is selectively supplied to the circuit module, and the amount of current flowing into the circuit module is controlled according to at least one control signal; and the detection and control circuits are coupled in the power switch, and used for real-time detection of a first signal generated by at least a first circuit around the circuit module, and comparing the first signal with a second signal to determine the first signal A signal state of a circuit, and the control signal is generated accordingly to adjust the amount of current flowing into the circuit module.

In another embodiment of the present invention, a method for controlling the amount of current flowing into a circuit module is disclosed, comprising: real-time detection of a first circuit generated by at least a first circuit located around the circuit module a signal, and comparing the first signal with a second signal to determine a signal state of the first circuit to generate a control signal; and control the amount of current flowing into the circuit module according to the control signal.

100, 300: wafer

110, 310: circuit module

120, 320: Power switch

130, 330_1~330_4: detection and control circuit

132: First Circuit

134: Second Circuit

136: Comparator

400~406: Steps

SW11~SW16, SW21~SW23: switch

Vc, Vc1~Vc4, VSW1, VSW2: Control signal

VDD: Supply voltage

VS1: First signal

VS2: Second signal

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a wafer according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of a power switch according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of a wafer according to another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart of a method for controlling the amount of current flowing into a circuit module according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Certain terms are used in the specification and subsequent claims to refer to particular elements. It should be understood by those of ordinary skill in the art that hardware manufacturers may refer to the same element by different nouns. The scope of this specification and subsequent applications does not take the difference in name as a way to distinguish elements, but takes the difference in function of the elements as a criterion for distinguishing. The reference to "including" throughout the specification and subsequent claims is an open-ended term and should be interpreted as "including but not limited to". In addition, the word "coupled" herein includes any means of direct and indirect electrical connection, thus, if a first device is described as being coupled to a second device, it means that the first device can be directly electrically connected to the the second device, or indirectly electrically connected to the second device through other devices or connecting means.

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a wafer 100 according to an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 1 , the chip 100 includes a circuit module 110 , a power switch 120 and a detection and control circuit 130 , wherein the detection and control circuit 130 includes a first circuit 132 and a second circuit 134 and a comparator 136 . In this embodiment, the circuit module 110 is a switchable circuit module, that is, the circuit module 110 selectively receives a supply voltage VDD through the power switch 120 .

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of a power switch 120 according to an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 2, the power switch 120 includes two groups of switches, wherein the first group of switches includes switches SW11-SW16, which are used for turning on or off according to the level of a control signal VSW1; and the second group of switches includes Switches SW21-SW23 are provided, which are used to turn on or off according to the level of a control signal VSW2. shown in Figure 2 In the structure, when the first group of switches SW11 to SW16 and the second group of switches SW21 to SW23 are all turned off, the circuit module 110 will be in a power-off state because it cannot receive the supply voltage VDD; when the first group of switches SW11 to SW16 When the second group of switches SW21-SW23 is turned off, the circuit module 110 can receive the supply voltage VDD, but only a small amount of current flows into the circuit module 110 from the terminal of the supply voltage VDD; when the first group of switches SW21-SW23 is turned on When the switches SW11 ˜ SW16 are turned on and the second set of switches SW21 ˜ SW23 are turned off, the circuit module 110 can receive the supply voltage VDD, and a higher amount of current flows into the circuit module 110 from the terminal of the supply voltage VDD; and When the first group of switches SW11 ˜ SW16 and the second group of switches SW21 ˜ SW23 are both turned on, the highest current flows into the circuit module 110 from the terminal of the supply voltage VDD. It should be noted that the example in FIG. 2 is only used as an example, rather than as a limitation of the present invention. In other embodiments, the power switch 120 may have more groups of switches, and the The number can also be the same or different. As long as the power switch 120 can control the circuit module 110 to have various currents, the related design changes should belong to the scope of the present invention.

As described in the prior art, when the power switch 120 is turned on and the circuit module 110 enters the power-on state from the power-off state, the function of the peripheral components may be affected by the problem of excessive instantaneous current flowing into the circuit module 110 . Or the timing is abnormal. Therefore, a detection and control circuit 130 is provided in this embodiment to dynamically detect the signal state of the peripheral components of the circuit module 110 to determine whether there is a problem of excessive instantaneous current, and to generate a control signal. Vc is used to adjust the amount of current flowing into the circuit module 110 through the power switch 120 at the terminal of the supply voltage VDD, that is, the control signals VSW1 and VSW2 shown in FIG. 2 can be based on the control signal Vc generated by the detection and control circuit 130 and change.

In the detection and control circuit 130, the first circuit 132 is disposed at the edge of the circuit module 110, so that a first signal VS1 generated is obviously affected by the instantaneous current flowing into the circuit module 110; The two circuits 134 are located away from the circuit module 110, so that the generated first The second signal VS2 is not affected by the instantaneous current flowing into the circuit module 110 . In this embodiment, the first signal VS1 generated by the first circuit 132 and the second signal VS2 generated by the second circuit 134 are the same signal. For example, the first circuit 132 and the second circuit 134 may have The clock generation circuit of the same or similar structure, and the first signal VS1 and the second signal VS2 can be clock signals with the same frequency; in another example, the first circuit 132 and the second circuit 134 can be linear feedback shift Bit register (Linear Feedback Shift Register, LFSR), and at this time the first signal VS1 and the second signal VS2 are a pseudo-random sequence. The comparator 136 compares the voltage levels of the first signal VS1 and the second signal VS2 to determine whether the first signal VS1 and the second signal VS2 are consistent (ie, whether the voltage waveforms are consistent), so as to generate the control signal Vc to the power supply The switch 120 is used to adjust the amount of current flowing into the circuit module 110 .

In addition, in this embodiment, the detection and control circuit 130 is located in an area of the chip 100 that will never be powered off, that is, as long as the chip 100 is connected to an external power supply, the detection and control circuit 130 can always receive the power supply voltage VDD for related operations.

Specifically, when the circuit module 110 needs to enter the power-on state from the power-off state, a control circuit in the chip 100 controls the power switch 120 to generate control signals VSW1 and VSW2 to turn on the two sets of switches shown in FIG. 2 . at least one of them. At this time, since the circuit module 110 begins to have current flowing in, the comparator 136 compares the first signal VS1 and the second signal VS2 to determine whether the first signal VS1 generated by the first circuit 132 disposed at the edge of the circuit module 110 is not It is affected by the transient current of the power switch 120 . If the comparison circuit 136 determines that the first signal VS1 generated by the first circuit 132 is affected by the instantaneous current of the power switch 120, the comparison circuit 136 generates the control signal Vc to the power switch 120 to control/adjust the control signals VSW1 and VSW2 to One group of switches is turned off to reduce the amount of current flowing into the circuit module 110; if the comparison circuit 136 determines that the first signal VS1 generated by the first circuit 132 is not affected by the instantaneous current of the power switch 120, the comparison circuit 136 controls Signal Vc to power switch 120 , using the control/adjustment control signals VSW1 and VSW2 to turn on one of the switches to increase the amount of current flowing into the circuit module 110 .

As described above, by immediately detecting whether the signal of the peripheral element (ie, the first circuit 132 ) is abnormal during the process of the circuit module 110 from the power-off state to the power-on state, it is possible to detect the abnormality of the signal as soon as possible when the signal is abnormal. The amount of current flowing into the circuit module 110 is reduced to prevent the functions of the peripheral components from being affected; in addition, if the signals of the detected peripheral components (ie, the first circuit 132 ) are normal, the turn-on of the switch in the power switch 120 can be accelerated. speed, so as to increase the amount of current flowing into the circuit module 110 and improve the power-on efficiency. Therefore, the present embodiment can take into account the functionality of peripheral components and the power-on efficiency of the circuit module 110 .

In the embodiment shown in FIG. 1, the chip 100 includes only one detection and control circuit 130. However, since the relative positional relationship between the power switch 120 and the circuit module 110 may be different, in addition, each circuit module 110 may have different relative positions. The peripheral elements on one side may be affected differently by the instantaneous current. Therefore, in other embodiments of the present invention, the chip 100 may include a plurality of detection and control circuits to more accurately determine the instantaneous current of the circuit module 110 for influence of peripheral components. Referring to FIG. 3, which is a schematic diagram of a wafer 300 according to another embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 3 , the chip 300 includes a circuit module 310 , a power switch 320 and four detection and control circuits 330_1 to 330_4 . In this embodiment, the circuit module 310 is a switchable circuit module, that is, the circuit module 310 selectively receives a supply voltage VDD through the power switch 320 .

In one embodiment, the detection and control circuits 330_1 to 330_4 are evenly distributed around the circuit module 310, for example, the control circuit 330_1 shown in FIG. Below the circuit module 310 , the control circuit 330_3 is located on the left side of the circuit module 310 , and the control circuit 330_4 is located above the circuit module 310 . Each detection and control circuit The structures of 330_1 to 330_4 are the same as the detection and control circuit 130 shown in FIG. 1 , and the power switch 320 can also be implemented by the power switch 120 shown in FIG. 2 , so the related operation details will not be repeated. In the present embodiment, the detection and control circuits 330_1 to 330_4 respectively determine whether the signals of the peripheral elements of the circuit module 310 (eg, the first circuit 132 shown in FIG. 1 ) are normal, and respectively generate a plurality of control signals Vc1 - Vc4 are sent to the power switch 320 for adjusting the amount of current flowing into the circuit module 310 . Specifically, when the power switch 320 is turned on to make the circuit module 310 enter the power-on state from the power-off state, if the Vc1~Vc4 received by the power switch 320 indicate any one of the detection and control circuits 330_1~ 330_4 detects that the signal state of the peripheral circuit of the circuit module 310 is abnormal, then the power switch 320 will reduce the amount of current flowing into the circuit module 310 to prevent the function of the peripheral components from being affected; in addition, if the power switch 320 receives the signal Vc1 to Vc4 indicate that the signal states of the peripheral circuits of the circuit module 310 detected by each of the detection and control circuits 330_1 to 330_4 are normal, so that the speed at which the switch in the power switch 120 is turned on is accelerated, so as to increase the flow into the circuit module 110 current flow to improve power-on efficiency.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart of a method for controlling the amount of current flowing into a circuit module according to an embodiment of the present invention. At the same time, referring to FIGS. 1 to 4 and the contents disclosed above, the process is as follows.

Step 400: The process starts.

Step 402: The circuit module enters a power-on state from a power-off state.

Step 404: Real-time detection of the signal state of the peripheral circuit of the circuit module to generate at least one control signal.

Step 406: Dynamically control the amount of current flowing into the circuit module according to the at least one control signal.

To briefly summarize the present invention, in a method for controlling the amount of current flowing into a circuit module and a related chip of the present invention, the peripheral components are detected in real time during the process from power-off to power-on of the circuit module. The signal makes whether there is any abnormality, and dynamically adjusts the amount of current flowing into the circuit module accordingly. Through the operation of the present invention, the functionality of peripheral components and the power-on efficiency of the circuit module can be taken into account.

The above descriptions are only preferred embodiments of the present invention, and all equivalent changes and modifications made according to the scope of the patent application of the present invention shall fall within the scope of the present invention.

100: Wafer

110: circuit module

120: Power switch

130: Detection and control circuit

132: First Circuit

134: Second Circuit

136: Comparator

Vc: control signal

VDD: Supply voltage

VS1: First signal

VS2: Second signal

Claims (8)

A chip capable of controlling the amount of current flowing into a circuit module, comprising: a power switch for controlling the amount of current flowing into the circuit module according to a control signal; and a detection and control circuit coupled to the circuit module The power switch is used for detecting a first signal generated by a first circuit and a second signal generated by a second circuit around the circuit module, and according to the first signal and the second signal A signal state of the first circuit is determined, and the control signal is generated accordingly to adjust the amount of current flowing into the circuit module; wherein the first circuit is arranged on the edge of the circuit module, and the second circuit is connected to the circuit module. The distance between the circuit modules is greater than the distance between the first circuit and the circuit module. The chip of claim 1, wherein when the power switch is turned on to make the circuit module enter the power-on state from the power-off state, if the detection and control circuit detects the first circuit When the signal state is abnormal, the detection and control circuit generates the control signal to reduce the amount of current flowing into the circuit module. The chip of claim 1, wherein when the power switch is turned on to make the circuit module enter the power-on state from the power-off state, if the detection and control circuit detects the first circuit If the signal state is normal, the detection and control circuit generates the control signal to increase the amount of current flowing into the circuit module. The chip of claim 1, wherein the first circuit and the second circuit are located in a region of the chip that is never powered off. The chip of claim 1, wherein the first signal and the second signal are the same signal, and the detection and control circuit compares the first signal and the second signal to determine whether the first signal and the second signal are consistent, so as to generate the control signal. The chip of claim 5, wherein if the detection and control circuit determines that the first signal and the second signal are inconsistent, the detection and control circuit generates the control signal to reduce flow into the circuit module and if the detection and control circuit determines that the first signal and the second signal are consistent, the detection and control circuit generates the control signal to increase the amount of current flowing into the circuit module. A method for controlling the amount of current flowing into a circuit module, comprising: detecting a first signal generated by a first circuit located around the circuit module and a second signal generated by a second circuit, And the first signal and a second signal are used to determine a signal state of the first circuit to generate a control signal; and according to the control signal to control the amount of current flowing into the circuit module; wherein the first circuit is set on the edge of the circuit module, and the distance between the second circuit and the circuit module is greater than the distance between the first circuit and the circuit module. The method of claim 7, wherein the circuit module is disposed in a chip, and the first circuit and the second circuit are located in an area of the chip that is never powered off.

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