# US 11,443,777 B2 · Backside power rail architecture

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- Number: US 11,443,777 B2
- Document ID: US11443777B2
- Status: Granted
- Kind: B2
- Application number: 17/019,030
- Filed: 2020-09-11
- Published: 2022-03-17
- Granted: 2022-09-13
- Earliest claimed: 2020-09-11
- Assignees: Arm Limited
- Applicants: Arm Limited
- Inventors: Andy Wangkun Chen; Sriram Thyagarajan; Yew Keong Chong; Sony; Ettore Amirante; Ayush Kulshrestha
- Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US11443777B2

## CPC

- G11C 5/14: Power supply arrangements {, e.g. power down, chip selection or deselection, layout of wirings or power grids, or multiple supply levels}
- H10W 20/427: {Power or ground buses}
- G11C 8/08: Word line control circuits, e.g. drivers, boosters, pull-up circuits, pull-down circuits, precharging circuits, for word lines
- H10W 20/20: Interconnections within wafers or substrates, e.g. through-silicon vias [TSV]
- H10W 20/481: {on the rear surfaces of the wafers or substrates}
- G11C 5/063: {Voltage and signal distribution in integrated semi-conductor memory access lines, e.g. word-line, bit-line, cross-over resistance, propagation delay}
- G11C: STATIC STORES (semiconductor memory devices H10B)
- H10W: GENERIC PACKAGES, INTERCONNECTIONS, CONNECTORS OR OTHER CONSTRUCTIONAL DETAILS OF DEVICES COVERED BY CLASS H10

## Abstract

Various implementations described herein refer to a device having backside power rails including first backside power rails that supply a core voltage to memory logic and second backside power rails that supply a periphery voltage to control logic. In some implementations, at least one first backside power rail may have a rail break that interrupts continuity so as to allow at least one second backside power rail to supply the periphery voltage to the control logic.

## Claims

### Claim 1

A device, comprising:
first backside power rails that supply a core voltage to memory logic; and
second backside power rails that supply a periphery voltage to control logic,
wherein at least one first backside power rail has a rail break that interrupts continuity so as to allow at least one second backside power rail to supply the periphery voltage to the control logic, and
wherein the rail break provides a spatial opening in the at least one first backside power rail to allow coupling of the at least one second backside power rail to the control logic.

### Claim 2 (depends on 1)

The device of claim 1, wherein the first backside power rails provide a first net that supplies the core voltage to the memory logic, and wherein the second backside power rails provide a second net that supplies the periphery voltage to the control logic.

### Claim 3 (depends on 1)

The device of claim 1, wherein the core voltage refers to an internal core voltage (VDDC), and wherein the periphery voltage refers to an internal periphery voltage (VDDP).

### Claim 4 (depends on 1)

The device of claim 1, wherein the memory logic has wordline headers and wordline drivers, and wherein the control logic has a wordline controller.

### Claim 5 (depends on 4)

The device of claim 4, wherein:
the wordline drivers include an upper wordline driver for an upper core array and a lower wordline driver for a lower core array, and
the wordline headers include an upper wordline header that operates as an upper power-gating header for the upper wordline driver and a lower wordline header that operates as a lower power-gating header for the lower wordline driver.

### Claim 6 (depends on 5)

The device of claim 5, wherein:
the control logic includes an upper controller for the upper wordline driver and a lower controller for the lower wordline driver, and the control logic includes a powergate controller for power-gating the wordline controller.

### Claim 7

A device, comprising:
first backside power rails that supply a core voltage to memory logic;
second backside power rails that supply a periphery voltage to control logic, wherein at least one first backside power rail has a rail break that interrupts continuity so as to allow at least one second backside power rail to supply the periphery voltage to the control logic;
a frontside power distribution network that provides frontside power rails;
a backside power distribution network that provides the first backside power rails and the second backside power rails disposed underneath the frontside power rails; and
transition cells that provide frontside-to-backside power distribution.

### Claim 8 (depends on 7)

The device of claim 7, wherein:
the first backside power rails and the second backside power rails refer to buried power rails that are disposed underneath the frontside power rails, and
the transition cells refer to buried transition vias that are used to couple the buried power rails to the memory logic and the control logic.

### Claim 9 (depends on 7)

The device of claim 7, wherein:
the frontside power rails are formed with frontside metal, and
the backside power rails are formed with buried metal that is disposed underneath the frontside metal.

### Claim 10

A device, comprising:
first backside power rails that supply a core voltage to memory logic; and
second backside power rails that supply a periphery voltage to control logic,
third backside power rails that couple the memory logic and the control logic to ground,
wherein at least one first backside power rail has multiple rail breaks that interrupt continuity so as to allow at least one second backside power rail to supply the periphery voltage to the control logic and so as to allow at least one third backside power rail to couple the memory logic and the control logic to ground.

### Claim 11 (depends on 10)

The device of claim 10, wherein the first backside power rails provide a first net that supplies the core voltage to the memory logic, and wherein the second backside power rails provide a second net that supplies the periphery voltage to the control logic.

### Claim 12 (depends on 10)

The device of claim 10, wherein the multiple rail breaks provide spatial openings in the at least one first backside power rail to allow coupling of the at least one second backside power rail to the control logic and to allow at least one third backside power rail to couple the memory logic and the control logic to ground.

### Claim 13 (depends on 10)

The device of claim 10, wherein the core voltage refers to an external core voltage (VDDCE), and wherein the periphery voltage refers to an external periphery voltage (VDDPE).

### Claim 14 (depends on 10)

The device of claim 10, further comprising:
a frontside power distribution network that provides frontside power rails;
a backside power distribution network that provides the first backside power rails, the second backside power rails, and the third backside power rails that are disposed underneath the frontside power rails; and
transition cells that provide frontside-to-backside power distribution.

### Claim 15

A device, comprising:
memory circuitry including memory logic and control logic; and
rows of backside power rails having one or more rail breaks that allow multiple different nets to supply power to the memory logic and the control logic,
wherein alignment of the rail breaks in one or more first regions allow for core voltage in multiple domains to be supplied from different rows of the backside power rails, and
wherein alignment of the rail breaks in one or more second regions allow for periphery voltage in multiple domains to be supplied from different rows of the backside power rails.

### Claim 16 (depends on 15)

The device of claim 15, wherein:
the multiple rows of the backside power rails include a first row of backside power rails and a second row of backside power rails,
the first row of backside power rails has one or more rail breaks that allow the multiple different nets to supply power to the memory logic and the control logic, and
the second row of backside power rails has one or more rail breaks that allow multiple different nets to supply power to the memory logic and the control logic.

### Claim 17 (depends on 16)

The device of claim 16, wherein:
portions of the first row of the backside power rails in the one or more first regions are vertically aligned with corresponding portions of the second row of the backside power rails in the one or more first regions, and
portions of the first row of the backside power rails in the one or more second regions are vertically aligned with corresponding portions of the second row of the backside power rails in the one or more second regions.

### Claim 18 (depends on 15)

The device of claim 15, wherein the one or more rail breaks provide spatial openings in the backside power rails to allow the multiple different nets to supply power to the memory logic and the control logic.

### Claim 19 (depends on 15)

The device of claim 15, wherein:
the multiple domains of the core voltage include an internal core voltage domain (VDDC) and an external core voltage domain (VDDCE),
the multiple domains of the periphery voltage include an internal periphery voltage domain (VDDP) and an external periphery voltage domain (VDDPE), and
one or more backside power rails are coupled to an external ground (VSSE).