The third article in the Moortec “Let’s Talk PVT Monitoring” series with Moortec CTO Oliver King about thermal issues associated with modern SoCs - How Hot is Hot? As Moortec’s CTO, Oliver has been leading the development of compelling in-chip monitoring solutions to address problems associated with ever-shrinking System-on-Chip (SoC) process geometries. Moortec have been tackling the issue presented by complex, multi-core processor System on Chip (SoC) designs, which although enabling a marketplace of compelling electronic products attractive to the consumer, do however come with some very real challenges. Developers of advanced node devices, on technologies such as 28-nm and FinFET, are becoming increasingly aware of the issues of heat, voltage supply and variations within the manufacturing process. To tackle these issues, Moortec provide process, voltage and temperature (PVT) monitoring IP solutions that are embedded within SoC designs. The on-chip monitors allow for dynamic performance optimization, as sensing die temperature, detecting logic speed and monitoring voltage supply levels can be used intelligently to vary system clock frequencies and the voltage levels of supply domains.