Fundamentals of Power Integrity for Computer Platforms and Systems

Chapter 1Introduction to Power Integrity

This book examines the design concepts of power delivery to modern microprocessors and other related high-speed silicon devices. Today this field is termed power integrity. This chapter provides the background information on what has driven the need for platform power integrity analysis in this relatively new field. The platform is essentially the computer board with its multiple silicon devices, in addition to the power sources, or converters, that power them. The subject of power conversion will be examined, in particular as it applies to areas relevant to power integrity engineering. For computer systems the power conversion is mainly in the DC–DC conversion area. The chapters that follow will discuss areas relevant to power integrity analysis—circuit and field theory, modeling, the power delivery network (PDN) and boundary analysis, and other system considerations—and end with an examination of system noise, loadline, and measurement techniques. The last chapter will introduce silicon power integrity, along with some advanced interrelated topics, because of the increasing interest now being given to silicon-level power and the problems associated with on-silicon and on-package power delivery.

In the present chapter, power integrity is defined in terms of the paths that make up the PDN. The paths and all their components comprise the PI (power integrity) domain. A historical review of the voltage and current changes over time (using ...