CAREER: Power Management Solutions for Systems-on-Chip

半导体技术和片上系统的进步使汽车、边缘计算和物联网的高效智能系统成为可能。电源管理单元是使用各种电源转换器（包括开关电容电路）管理片上系统中的功率流的主流电路。随着人们对高性能和多功能片上系统的需求日益增长，设计高效、紧凑、集成的电源管理单元面临着许多挑战。首先，需要一个准确、快速的开关电容电路行为模型，以帮助设计人员在设计早期优化各种参数。其次，迫切需要更好的开关电容电路，以实现高功率和面积效率。第三，需要高效的控制电路来支持开关电容电路和其他功率变换器，以提高功率效率。本CAREER提案的广泛目标是在建模，转换器架构和电路级别上追求混合信号设计的创新研究方向，以应对这些挑战，并为建模和电路实现的突破性创新铺平道路。该CAREER提案将通过推进电源管理设计的知识并为研究界提供可应用于各种应用的新模型和电路，从而对研究前沿产生重大影响。教育方面包括填补与混合信号电路设计相关的电气和计算机工程课程的空白。外展活动包括通过与韦恩州立大学的K-12教育外展办公室合作，为K-12学生开发一个暑期课程。此外，这些活动将包括与业界合作，培训学生使用芯片设计工具，并为他们提供及时和相关的技能。该职业在建模、转换器架构和控制电路层面探索了新的设计方向，以实现高效的电源管理单元。在建模层面，提出了一种新的电阻网络行为模型来描述通用开关电容电路在整个工作频率范围内的电特性，为快速准确地优化开关电容电路提供了新的可能性。在结构层面，提出了一种新的堆叠电荷泵，通过减少泵电容器的数量，在保持高功率效率的同时提供高电压转换率和优越的面积效率。在电路层面，提出了一个新的电路家族，可用于设计各种功率转换器的功率和面积效率控制电路，包括用于最大功率传输的多稳定模拟存储器，实现频率和脉宽调制的低功耗时钟发生器以及零电流开关电路。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Advancements in semiconductor technologies and systems-on-chip have enabled efficient and intelligent systems in automotive, edge computing, and internet-of-things. A power management unit is a mainstream circuit that manages the power flow in systems-on-chip using various power converters, including switched-capacitor circuits. With the increasing demands for higher performance and multifunctional systems-on-chip, designing efficient, compact, and integrated power management unit faces many challenges. First, an accurate and fast behavioral model for switched-capacitor circuits is required to assist designers in optimizing various parameters at the early design stages. Second, there is a critical need for better switched-capacitor circuits that can achieve both high power and area efficiency. Third, efficient control circuits are required to support switched-capacitor circuits and other power converters to enhance power efficiency. The broad goal of this CAREER proposal is to pursue innovative research directions in mixed-signal design at modeling, converter architecture, and circuit levels to address these challenges and pave the way for ground-breaking innovations in modeling and circuit implementations. This CAREER proposal will significantly impact the research front by advancing the knowledge in power management design and providing the research community with new models and circuits that can be applied to various applications. The educational aspects include filling the gap in the electrical and computer engineering curriculum related to mixed-signal circuit design. The outreach activities include developing a summer course for K-12 students through collaboration with the K-12 Educational Outreach Office at Wayne State University. Also, the activities will include collaborating with industry to train students on chip design tools and provide them with timely and relevant skill sets.This CAREER explores new design directions at the modeling, converter architecture, and control circuit levels toward efficient power management units. At the modeling level, a new resistor-network behavioral model is proposed to describe the electrical characteristics of generic switched-capacitor circuits over the entire operating frequency range, unlocking new possibilities to optimize switched-capacitor circuits quickly and accurately. At the architecture level, a new stacked charge pump is proposed that provides a high voltage conversion ratio and superior area efficiency by reducing the number of pump capacitors while maintaining high power efficiency. At the circuit level, a new circuit family is proposed that can be used to design power and area-efficient control circuits for various power converters, including multi-stable analog memory for maximum power transfer, a low-power clock generator that enables frequency and pulse width modulation and zero current switching circuits.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.