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US 2026/0299014 A1Published application
Semiconductor aging monitoring
AssigneeIntel Corporation
InventorsMaxim LEVIT, Eran ALTSHULER, Marcelo WOLOVELSKY, Oren ZONENSAIN
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An age monitoring approach using an oscillator circuit and an identified trip voltage for the oscillator to measure frequency degradation. The trip voltage allows for the frequency degradation to be measured without having to unreasonably take temperature into account.
Claims20
An apparatus, comprising:
- a circuit group coupled to a supply voltage rail;
- a management circuit;
- an adjustable voltage supply;
- and
- an oscillator including an oscillator supply node coupled to the adjustable voltage supply or the supply voltage rail through a switch that is controllable by the management circuit.
2 more elements
An apparatus, comprising:
- at least one circuit group including a supply rail and ring oscillator, wherein the ring oscillator further comprises a ring oscillator supply node;
- a switch coupled to the ring oscillator supply node to couple it to an adjustable supply voltage or to the supply rail;
- and
- a control circuit coupled to the switch and capable of:
- controlling the switch to select the adjustable supply voltage,
- controlling the adjustable supply voltage to be at a trip voltage value for the ring oscillator,
- measuring a frequency generated by the ring oscillator, and
- identifying a frequency degradation value based on the measured frequency.
5 more elements
A process of making a processor that includes an age monitor circuit, comprising:
- making a circuit group that includes a supply voltage rail;
- providing a management circuit;
- disposing an oscillator within the circuit group, the oscillator including an oscillator supply node;
- and
- coupling the oscillator supply node, the supply voltage rail, and an adjustable voltage supply to a switch that is configured to be controlled by the management circuit to select one of the adjustable supply voltage or supply voltage rail.
2 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.