Controlling Ground Bounce Noise in Power Gating Scheme for System-on-a-Chip

Conventional power gating techniques for minimizing leakage currents introduce ground bounce noise during power mode transition. Here an analysis of ground bounce due to power mode transition in power gating structures is presented. An innovative power gating approach is proposed, which in addition to targeting maximum reduction of major leakage currents will provide a way to control ground bounce during power mode transition. The proposed power gating technique will have an additional intermediate HOLD mode along with conventional CUTOFF and RUN modes. Its stepwise turning on feature will provide higher reduction of the magnitude of peak current and voltage glitches in the power distribution network as well as the minimum time required to stabilize power and ground as compared to other similar techniques.