Voltage scaling using material-based reference model
OwnerVyungchon Choe, Jagrut Patel +1inventors
InventorsVyungchon Choe, Jagrut Patel, Rajeev Prabhakaran
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Abstract
An electronic circuit including an oscillator and having known physical device characteristics is operated by supplying a core voltage to the electronic circuit from a cold start, measuring output frequency of the oscillator during the cold start, and determining a material index from the output frequency based on the physical device characteristics.
Claims30
A method for operating an electronic circuit including an oscillator and having known physical device characteristics, the method comprising:
- supplying a core voltage to the electronic circuit from a cold start;
- measuring output frequency of the oscillator during the cold start;
- and
- determining a material index from the output frequency based on the physical device characteristics.
An integrated circuit comprising:
- a core including at least one electronic component and/or device and having known physical device characteristics;
- an oscillator coupled to the core that generates a timing signal for usage by the core;
- and
- a controller coupled to the core and the oscillator that measures oscillator output frequency during a cold start and determines a material index from the output frequency based on the physical device characteristics.
A method for operating an electronic circuit comprising:
- applying a core voltage to the electronic circuit from a cold start;
- identifying a material index based on known physical device characteristics for the electronic circuit and a measured operating frequency at which the electronic circuit operates;
- estimating a maximum frequency for a critical path in the electronic circuit based on the material index and operating frequency.
An integrated circuit comprising:
- a core including at least one electronic component and/or device and having known physical device characteristics;
- an oscillator coupled to the core that generates a timing signal for usage by the core;
- and
- a controller coupled to the core and the oscillator that monitors at least one operational parameter of the core at application of a core voltage to the electronic component and/or device from a cold start and estimates a maximum frequency for a critical path in the electronic component and/or device based on a material index derived from the known physical device characteristics, and a measured electronic circuit operating frequency.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.