Towards Real-Time Monitoring of Thermal Peaks in Systems-on-Chip (SoC)

Area of Science:

• Electrical Engineering
• Computer Engineering
• Materials Science

Background:

• Thermal peaks are critical design concerns in advanced Integrated Circuits (ICs).
• Existing monitoring methods may require external sensors or lack real-time capabilities.
• Accurate thermal management is essential for the reliability and performance of Systems on Chip (SoCs).

Purpose of the Study:

• To present a novel, on-chip method for real-time thermal peak detection in ICs.
• To enable accurate chip thermal mapping without external sensors.
• To validate the proposed technique using a Field-Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) and thermal camera.

Main Methods:

• Utilizing distributed arrays of oscillators across the chip area to measure local frequencies.
• Mapping measured frequencies to local temperatures for chip thermal mapping.
• Employing the Gradient Direction Sensor (GDS) technique for real-time indication of local heat source temperatures.

Main Results:

• The proposed method provides real-time monitoring of thermal peaks.
• A Field-Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) was used as a System-on-Chip (SoC) testbed.
• Validation with a thermal camera showed a maximum error of 0.3 °C between measurements.

Conclusions:

• The developed technique offers a self-contained, real-time solution for thermal peak monitoring in ICs.
• This method enhances thermal management strategies for advanced SoC designs.
• The high accuracy demonstrates the viability of on-chip oscillator arrays for thermal sensing.