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

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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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