Novel Power Delivery Network Design and Pre-Silicon Validation Supporting Heterogeneous Dies on a Single Package

Modern server packaging techniques employ different integration techniques to connect several heterogeneous dies on a single package to circumvent die fabrication challenges. The large span of distance between the dies can make power delivery challenging. A single-sided power entry can see a significant voltage drop from the platform voltage regulator (VR) to the package. A novel approach is highlighted in this paper showing the design of a server platform with multi-sided socket pins and multi-sided VR placement. This utilizes the most benefit from the board copper and capacitors. A novel approach to pre-silicon platform validation and correlation is also presented in this paper to validate such a power delivery network (PDN) design. The new approach allows independent loading on the socket and the monitoring of multiple socket test points compared to the conventional single load zone and single test point using voltage regulator test tool (VRTT). This allows verifying the efficacy of a symmetrical PDN design by emulating package power delivery with a VRTT interposer. Measurements and correlation results from pre-silicon transient validation reveal the exciting potential that system designers can co-design VR and platform power delivery to achieve the best overall performance and cost solution.