A power-on reset (PoR, POR) generator is a
microcontroller or
microprocessor
A microprocessor is a computer processor where the data processing logic and control is included on a single integrated circuit, or a small number of integrated circuits. The microprocessor contains the arithmetic, logic, and control circu ...
peripheral
A peripheral or peripheral device is an auxiliary device used to put information into and get information out of a computer. The term ''peripheral device'' refers to all hardware components that are attached to a computer and are controlled by th ...
that generates a
reset signal when power is applied to the
device
A device is usually a constructed tool. Device may also refer to:
Technology Computing
* Device, a colloquial term encompassing desktops, laptops, tablets, smartphones, etc.
* Device file, an interface of a device driver
* Peripheral, any devi ...
. It ensures that the device starts operating in a known
state
State may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Literature
* ''State Magazine'', a monthly magazine published by the U.S. Department of State
* ''The State'' (newspaper), a daily newspaper in Columbia, South Carolina, United States
* '' Our ...
.
PoR generator
In
VLSI devices, the power-on reset (PoR) is an electronic device incorporated into the integrated circuit that detects the power applied to the chip and generates a reset impulse that goes to the entire circuit placing it into a known state.
A simple PoR uses the charging of a capacitor, in series with a resistor, to measure a time period during which the rest of the circuit is held in a reset state. A
Schmitt trigger
In electronics, a Schmitt trigger is a comparator circuit with hysteresis implemented by applying positive feedback to the noninverting input of a comparator or differential amplifier. It is an active circuit which converts an analog input ...
may be used to deassert the reset signal cleanly, once the rising voltage of the
RC network passes the
threshold voltage
The threshold voltage, commonly abbreviated as Vth or VGS(th), of a field-effect transistor (FET) is the minimum gate-to-source voltage (VGS) that is needed to create a conducting path between the source and drain terminals. It is an important ...
of the Schmitt trigger. The resistor and capacitor values should be determined so that the charging of the RC network takes long enough that the supply voltage will have stabilised by the time the threshold is reached.
One of the issues with using RC network to generate PoR pulse is the sensitivity of the R and C values to the power-supply ramp characteristics. When the power supply ramp is rapid, the R and C values can be calculated so that the time to reach the switching threshold of the schmitt trigger is enough to apply a long enough reset pulse. When the power supply ramp itself is slow, the RC network tends to get charged up along with the power-supply ramp up. So when the input schmitt stage is all powered up and ready, the input voltage from the RC network would already have crossed the schmitt trigger point. This means that there might not be a reset pulse supplied to the core of the VLSI.
Power-on reset on IBM mainframes
On an IBM mainframe, a power-on reset (POR) is a sequence of actions that the processor performs either due to a POR request from the operator or as part of turning on power. The operator requests a POR for configuration changes that cannot be recognized by a simple
System Reset.
See also
*
Low-voltage detect
*
Oscillator start-up timer
Embedded systems
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