Integrated Regulation for Energy-Efficient Digital Circuits

Linear regulation can reduce the effective supply impedance of digital circuits without increasing their total power dissipation. This can be achieved with a push-pull regulator topology that uses a second, higher-than-nominal supply, comparator-based feedback, and a switched-source follower output stage. Measured results from a 65 nm SOI test-chip verify that by using these techniques, regulation reduces supply noise by ~30% while also enabling a slight decrease (~1.4%) in total power.