Semiconductor integrated device having independent circuit blocks and a power breaking means for selectively supplying power to the circuit blocks

Abstract

A semiconductor integrated device including a first circuit block, a second circuit block, a first supply interconnection connected to the first circuit block to supply power thereto, a second supply interconnection connecting the first supply interconnection to the second circuit block, and a switch inserted across the first and second supply interconnections. The switch has a structure equivalent to a plurality of switching elements disposed in parallel on a substrate. The switch is opened by a break command output from the first circuit block so that the second supply interconnection is disconnected from the first supply interconnection, thereby preventing a standby current from flowing to the second circuit block when it is unused. This can solve a problem of a conventional semiconductor integrated device in that the standby current flowing to the second circuit block wastes power even if the second block is not used.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.