Sigrity awarded US patent for unique voltage-management optimization

CAMPBELL, USA: Sigrity, Inc., the market leader in signal and power integrity solutions, has been awarded US Patent No. 8,080,897 for the company’s automated optimal sense location capability.

The unique Sigrity technology pinpoints the best possible position to place a remote voltage regulator module (VRM) sense line on a printed circuit board or package. This single design optimization can increase the ability to meet target voltage thresholds and significantly improve overall voltage margin efficiency by 10-to-30 percent compared to seemingly reasonable alternative locations. The automated optimal sense location capability is implemented in Sigrity’s electrical and thermal simulation tool – PowerDC.

“Adding a remote VRM sense line can really help in meeting end-to-end voltage margins by detecting and controlling changes in voltage levels,” said Shahriar Mokhtarzad, a hardware engineering manager at Brocade. “The location of the VRM remote sense line is critical for effective performance. Unfortunately, it can be tricky to identify the best location for a remote VRM sense – particularly when there are multiple devices involved. PowerDC makes it quick and easy to make the best positioning choice.”

“We are pleased to receive the US patent recognizing our work in automating remote sense location identification,” said Dr. Jiayuan Fang, president at Sigrity. “Even expert-level power engineers can find it difficult to pinpoint the best location for a remote sense line using judgment and experience alone. Simulation with various positioning alternatives can be helpful, but it is time-consuming. Sigrity’s technique efficiently finds the optimal sense line location and significantly shaves DC margins, thus improving efficiency and power reliability for our users.”

Sigrity’s automated remote sense line position optimization in PowerDC helps designers tackle voltage-sensitive designs by efficiently managing their DC budget. It provides additional headroom to address AC noise issues while assuring overall power efficiency, reliability and performance. The ability to deliver reliable power to circuits is critically important for the industry because reliable end-product functioning depends on staying within the power fluctuation tolerances provided on component supplier datasheets.

Voltage drops can happen at every level in a chip, package and board system, and components that are distant from the power source are especially susceptible to IR drop. Designs that rely on battery power must minimize voltage drop to avoid problematic power loss, and complexity increases for designs with multiple sinks, various voltage levels and irregular plane shapes.