Abstract: A sense circuit and a system including a sense circuit are disclosed. The sense circuit is configured to measure and change in current with respect to time and/or a change in voltage across a portion of a substrate.

Abstract: A method, apparatus, and system for providing operating power and transient suppression power to a microelectronic device are disclosed. The system includes a primary regulator to supply nominal operating power and to respond to relatively slow transient events and a transient suppression regulator to respond to fast transient power events. The system also includes a sense circuit to detect when a transient event occurs and to send a signal to the transient suppression regulator to supply or sink current to the load in response to a sensed transient power event.

Abstract: A system is provided for supplying current to a dynamic load subject to transient current requirements. A sense unit coupled to the dynamic load is configured to sense the rate of change of supply current required by the dynamic load during a transient event. A current source coupled to the sense unit is configured to supply a current pulse to the dynamic load in response to the sense unit determining that the rate of change of supply current (di/dt) exceeds a predetermined threshold. The current pulse preferably has a shape characterized by a first region and a second region subsequent to the second region, wherein the first region includes a first boost current which exceeds the transient current requirement, and wherein the second region includes a second boost current which is less than the transient current requirement. More generally, a wideband transient suppression system is provided for controlling a wide spectrum of transients.

Abstract: A transient current generator for testing microelectronic power regulator systems is provided. The current generator includes a current source and one or more transistors to provide current or sink current to a microelectronic power delivery system. The generator may be used to test a microprocessor power delivery system by replacing the microprocessor with one or more of the generators of the present invention.

Abstract: A wideband voltage regulator is configured to provide suppression of fast transients, which can include a boosting circuit and a sensing circuit. The boosting circuit can be suitably configured to boost the voltage regulator response, while the sensing circuit can determine when such a boost may be desired. Accordingly, the response of the voltage regulator can be accelerated to a fast load transient beyond the closed loop bandwidth limited response or the slew rate limited response of the voltage regulator. An exemplary voltage regulator can be configured with an active sensing circuit comprising a sensing amplifier with switch control outputs, and a boosting circuit comprising N stored charge sources, e.g., boost capacitors, and (3N−1) switches that are configured to accelerate the voltage regulators response to a fast load transient beyond the closed loop bandwidth limited or slew rate limited response of the voltage regulator.

Abstract: Autocalibration circuitry and an algorithm (method) for aligning interstage gain within a high resolution multipass analog-to-digital converter. The interstage gain alignment technique maximizes the signal-to-noise ratio and spurious free dynamic range of the multipass analog-to-digital converter. The multipass analog-to-digital converter uses an m-bit course analog-to-digital converter and an n-bit fine analog-to-digital converter whose input is derived from an m-bit digital-to-analog converter. Output words of the course and fine analog-to-digital converters are combined to produce an output word of the multipass analog-to-digital converter. The present invention applies a random signal into the m-bit digital-to-analog converter. The digital output of the n-bit fine analog-to-digital converter is statistically examined to discern the gain misalignment error.