Patent ID: 7873921

Claim:
A non-transitory machine readable storage medium containing a design structure used in a design process for an integrated circuit chip, said design structure comprising: a power supply network for supplying a supply voltage to functional circuitry; and a trigger circuit that includes: a first direct current (DC) voltage divider stack comprising: a first input in electrical communication with said power supply network; and a first internal node for providing a first divided output voltage; wherein said first DC voltage divider stack is configured so that the first divided output voltage has a linear relationship to the supply voltage; a second DC voltage divider stack electrically coupled to said power supply network in parallel with said first DC voltage divider stack and having a nonlinear relationship to said supply voltage, said second DC voltage divider stack comprising: a second input in electrical communication with said power supply network; and a second internal node for providing a second divided output voltage; wherein said second DC voltage divider stack is configured so that the second divided output voltage has a nonlinear relationship to the supply voltage; and output circuitry in electrical communication with said first internal node and said second internal node and operatively configured to generate a digital trigger flag as a function of said first divided output voltage and said second divided output voltage; wherein said second DC voltage divider stack comprises a first current-tunneling device and a second current-tunneling device coupled in series with one another so as to define said second internal node, said trigger circuit being configured so that said output circuitry generates the digital trigger flag as a function of tunneling current in each of said first and second current-tunneling devices.