The Power Delivery Challenge in Integrated Platforms
trends and opportunities
Horacio Visairo
Engineering Manager
IL Guadalajara/Physical Technologies
Intel Corporation
Computing Systems: Smaller and Smarter Every Day
The trend is clearly to: smaller, more portable, smarter (more
functionality per device)
iPod nano
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The historical trends show: • Number of devices growing about 10x per 10-12 years
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So what does it take to play in the 100B device market?
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Volume [cm^3]
The historical trends show: • Number of devices growing about 10x per 10-12 years
• Increasing integration of functionality and hardware
• System size shrinking 10x per decade
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“Power Distribution Networks for System-on-Package: Status and Challenges”, Madhavan Swaminathan, et al.
Power Distribution Noise Coupling in System On Package
Power Delivery Network
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Die
VRM
Bulk
caps MF
caps
DSC
Motherboard Package LSC
Package caps are the first to respond
MB caps are the next to respond
Bulk caps come next
The VRM is the last to respond
Objective: Deliver clean power from VRM to Die
“Power Distribution Networks for System-on-Package: Status and Challenges”, Madhavan Swaminathan, et al.
Finding de-coupling option to meet targets
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First Droop
Second Droop
Idie
t
Third Droop
Predicts 1st, 2nd, and 3rd droops
)(_ cappkgZ
)(dieC
)(pdnZ
)(PKGL
)(vrmL
Z(f) highlights design weaknesses
PDN Major Challenges:
• Lower target impedances • Noise coupling
So things are going to get small and maybe real fast
Mobile Computing:
What are the implications beyond power distribution?
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Everything gets small, even the battery
• System tear downs show the battery is over 50% of the system volume for phones, tablets,…
Do the batteries become the constraint?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Secondary_cell_energy_density.svg
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Volume of Form Factor [cm^3]
Assuming:
-battery=50% vol
-350[Whr/L]
30 Day Operation
Powering Small Volumes Volume [cm^3] 1 day [mW] 30 day [mW]
100 729.166667 24.30555556
10 72.9166667 2.430555556
1 7.29166667 0.243055556
0.1 0.72916667 0.024305556
Budget for power consumption drops with the volume at ~10x per decade
iPhone iPod nano
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Powering Really Small Volumes
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Power Harvesting becomes Interesting
“Energy Harvesting for No-Power Embedded Systems”, A. Valenzuela, Texas Instruments, Oct 28, 2009
Inflection point when harvesting becomes feasible 11
e.g. wearable computing,
electronics in contact lens
Batteries, Capacitors, and Harvesting
Circuits will have to be tolerant of voltage non-idealities
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Harvesting
• Power source choice impacts the supply voltage behavior
• Voltage strongly influences circuit behavior:
• Speed, efficiency, aging, error rate,….
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To play in the 100 billion device market
• To get to the 100’s of billions of devices that
have sizes below 1[cm^3]
•Power budgets are in the 100’s of microwatts •Need to lower average power consumption
•Power harvesting becomes interesting •Need to cope with fluctuating voltage/power
levels
These are big challenges, but the opportunity is huge
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To play in the 100 billion device market
• What are some of the things Intel is doing to
reach the inflection point?
• Near Threshold Voltage (NTV) •Lower power and more efficiency per cycle
• Error Detection Sequentials (EDS) •Dealing with power and temp fluctuations
•Requirements identified:
•Sizes below 1[cm^3]
•Ave power budgets <100’s of microwatts •Cope with fluctuating power/voltages
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To play in the 100 billion device market
These are big challenges, but the opportunity is huge
• Requirements identified: • Sizes below 1[cm^3]
• Avg. power budgets <100’s of microwatts
• Cope with fluctuating power/voltages
• Intel is trying to tackle some of these with • Near Threshold Voltage (NTV)
• Error Detection Sequentials (EDS)
• ….
• But this is not enough… •To get there will take more ideas and breakthroughs
•To get there will take many innovations
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