JPH0243762A - Monolithic integrated circuit - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To prevent a power from being consumed in unused other circuits when only a part of circuits of a chip is used by a method wherein common potential supply externally connecting terminals, which are electrically connected only with one or more specified circuits out of the whole circuits formed on the chip, are provided. CONSTITUTION:In a monolithic integrated circuit composed of two or more circuits 11-13 formed on a chip 1, common potential supply externally connecting terminal 27-29 are provided, which are connected to one or more specified circuits of the whole circuits 11-13 formed on the chip 1 and supply a common potential to the circuit concerned. For instance, three terminals 27-29 out of the externally connecting terminals 21-29 are made to serve as common potential supply terminals to supply a common potential to each circuit on the chip 1 from the outside, and the externally connecting terminal 27 out of them is electrically connected to the whole circuits 11-13 through a common potential wire 31, and the rest, two common potential supply externally connecting terminals 28 and 29, are not connected with all of the circuits 11-13.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION FIELD OF INDUSTRIAL APPLICATION This invention relates to monolithic integrated circuit configurations.

[Conventional technology]

Conventionally, in this type of integrated circuit, all common potential portions of circuits built within the chip were connected within the chip.

[Problem to be solved by the invention]

In the conventional configuration as described above, when an integrated circuit is used, current flows through all the circuits by applying a common potential regardless of whether or not all the circuits are used, resulting in large power consumption and chip size. There was a problem with heat generation.

[Means to solve the problem]

The present invention includes an external connection terminal for supplying a common potential that is electrically connected only to one or more specific circuits among all the circuits on the chip.

[Effect]

When only some of the circuits on the chip are used, if a potential is applied only to the common potential supply external connection terminals connected to those circuits, no power consumption occurs in other unused circuits.

〔Example〕

Hereinafter, one embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

The figure is a block diagram showing one embodiment of the present invention. In the figure, first to third circuit sections 11 to 13 are formed on a chip 1. These circuit sections have specific functions depending on the use of this integrated circuit, and are electrically connected to some of the external connection terminals 21 to 29 on the periphery of the chip, respectively.

Here, three terminals 2 of the external connection terminals 21 to 29
Reference numerals 7 to 29 are for supplying a common potential, and each circuit section on the chip is supplied with a common potential from the outside. Among these, one external connection terminal 27 is electrically connected to all three circuit parts 11 to 13 by a common potential line 31, but the remaining two common potential supply external connection terminals 28 and 29 are Three circuit sections 11 to 13 each
are not connected to all of them. That is, the external connection terminal 28 is electrically connected only to the third circuit section 13 by the common potential line 32, and the other external connection terminal 29 is electrically connected to the first and second circuit sections 11. It is electrically connected only to 12.

With this configuration, all circuits 11 to 11
13, a potential is applied to the common potential supply external connection terminal connected to all circuit sections, but when only some circuit sections are used, only the circuit group containing the circuit section is applied. It is sufficient to apply a potential only to the external connection terminal for supplying a common potential connected to the common potential supply, and in that case, the common potential is selectively supplied only to those circuit sections. Therefore, when only some circuit sections are used, by not applying a potential to the common potential supply external connection terminals connected to the unused circuit sections, no power consumption occurs in this circuit section. This is advantageous in that it suppresses heat generation and prevents the chip temperature from rising.

Furthermore, if the external connection terminals for supplying the common potential are independent between the circuits, it is also possible to independently evaluate the fluctuation characteristics of the common potential in each circuit.

Such a common potential is generally the ground potential (G
ND), positive power supply input potential (Voo), negative power supply input potential (vEE), etc.;
If it is necessary to supply the same level of voltage to the circuits (above) from the outside, this is used as a common potential. Depending on the application of the integrated circuit, you can effectively reduce power consumption by grouping circuits that are likely to be used at the same time by supplying a common potential, and by providing corresponding external connection terminals for supplying common potential. can be controlled.

Note that the manufacturing process of the monolithic integrated circuit of the present invention is not changed in any way from the conventional process, only the arrangement pattern of wiring and external connection terminals is different. Therefore, manufacturing costs do not increase.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As described above, in this invention, only one circuit out of all the circuits on a chip
Or, since it is equipped with an external connection terminal for supplying a common potential that is electrically connected only to two or more specific circuits, it is not necessary to supply a common potential to all circuits when only some of the circuits are used. This can reduce power consumption compared to the case where a common potential is always supplied to all circuits. Therefore, it is extremely effective when used in general-purpose monolithic integrated circuits that are designed to be used in a variety of ways, and which include circuits that generate a large amount of heat.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

The figure is a block diagram showing one embodiment of the present invention. 1... Chip, 11-13... Circuit section, 27-29
...External connection terminals for common potential supply, 31 to 33...
common potential line. Patent applicant: Sumitomo Electric Industries, Ltd.

Claims (1)

[Claims] In a monolithic integrated circuit that has two or more circuits mounted on one chip, it is electrically connected to only one or two or more specific circuits out of all the circuits on the chip, and selectively supplies a common potential to those circuits. 1. A monolithic integrated circuit characterized by having an external connection terminal for supplying a common potential.