Reclaiming lost yield through methodical power integrity optimization

Christian Petersen, Teklatech A/S
EETimes (4/1/2013 10:32 AM EDT)

As designs are moving to 28nm and beyond, designers fully experience the effects of the much higher power density and diminishing effectiveness of decoupling capacitances at these geometries: failures due to dynamic power noise integrity issues is a significant contributor to yield loss in many designs. Synchronous switching and increasing di/dt at advanced process nodes (Figure 1) makes it increasingly challenging for designers to deal with on-chip dynamic voltage drop (DVD) and high frequency electromagnetic interference (EMI). And neither is to be taken lightly; studies have shown DVD fluctuations introduce sizable gate delays causing timing-related yield loss, and EMI from digital switching similarly cause mixed-signal yield loss due to compromised noise integrity.

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