Versatile macromodel for the power supply of submicronic CMOS microprocessors based on voltage down DC-DC converter

Abstract

A new SPICE macromodel that simulates a microprocessor loading impedance at the power supply is presented. This macro model has been especially created to accelerate the time to market in the design of DC-DC voltage converters used to supply submicronic digital integrated circuits. The proposed macromodel has been successfully compared to measurements for a dedicated test-chip implemented in CMOS 0.35 /spl mu/m from STM. The test-chip includes a 16 bit microprocessor supplied by a voltage down converter. SPICE simulations and measurements demonstrate the efficiency of the proposed model.