Monitoring & metering


MAXIMISING POWER SUPPLY OUTPUT PERFORMANCE WITH A HIGH ACCURACY WINDOW MONITOR


Advancing technology comes with lowering the core voltages of digital computing devices like FPGAs, processors, DSPs, and ASICs to address the power consumption and thermal challenges that affect its performance. This also leads to tighter core supply tolerances, which narrows down the operating voltage range. While most of the switching regulators are not perfect, this trend of core voltages calls for a very accurate power supply for proper operation. Window voltage supervisors help ensure that devices operate in proper core voltage levels, however threshold accuracy is a great factor in maximising the usable power supply window. This article by Noel Tenorio, product applications manager, and Camille Bianca Gomez, product applications engineer, both with Analog Devices, discusses how using a high-accuracy window voltage supervisor maximises power supply output. By improving the window of usable power supply for core voltages of devices, it ensures operation within the valid operating power supply range.


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nergy consumption of digital circuits is one of the major concerns as the demand for portable and battery-operated gadgets and devices is vastly increasing. Computing and processing are getting more complex, which requires faster


devices such as field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) and other processing chips. Complicated processes demand higher power, which in turn causes fast chips to heat. Figure 1 shows that the process technology trend in device dimensions is scaling down to the nanometer range, which necessitates a corresponding reduction in operating voltages, optimising processing speed and expanding the operational lifespan of devices.


With this trend of technology process optimisation, highly accurate power supplies are then required. If the actual performance of the power supplies is not considered, then it can lead to system performance risks. Since most regulators are not accurate enough, if the core voltage falls below the operating requirement, processing devices (FPGAs for instance) risk failure due to errors. And with continuous operation, if the core voltage drifts above the maximum operating requirement, this can damage the FPGA and create hold-time failures in the logic. All these risks can come with load condition, operating temperature, and aging. While FPGAs are mentioned for most of the examples in this article, the same principle applies for other computing and processing devices.


Figure 1. Supply voltages of integrated circuits lower with evolving technology process.


DEALING WITH TOLERANCES Tolerance needs careful attention when designing and monitoring power supplies for computing and processing chips as it can be treated differently from each perspective. In this article’s discussion, we define each tolerance in the following sections.


Symbol VCC Description Condition Min


Core Volt- age Power Supply


Standard Power


0.87


CORE VOLTAGE TOLERANCE The core voltage tolerance is the computing device core supply specifications. Table 1 shows the Altera Arria 10 FPGA core voltage specifications as an example. The minimum and maximum values range amounts to ±3.3 per cent tolerance with respect to the nominal value. Operating this device below the standard minimum or above the maximum will lead to performance issues. For optimum performance and low power operation, a tighter tolerance is required.


POWER SUPPLY TOLERANCE The power supply tolerance is the output deviation or output regulation performance of the power supply. To obtain a tight power supply tolerance requires expert design. However, it can change over time due to several external factors such as deterioration of components. In application, this power supply tolerance should be within the core voltage tolerance.


TABLE 1. ALTERA ARRIA 10 CORE VOLTAGE SPECIFICATION Typical Max 0.9 0.93 Unit V


Low Power 0.92


0.95


0.98


V


August 2025 Instrumentation Monthly


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