Patent ID: 7482792

Claim:
An apparatus comprising: a functional circuit formed in a semiconductor die; and a dc-to-dc switching power converter coupled to said functional circuit, to convert, regulate, and filter a DC input voltage to produce a DC output voltage and provide the DC output voltage to the functional circuit, wherein the dc-to-dc power converter has a switching frequency above 10 MHz, wherein the dc-to-dc switching power converter includes a main control circuit, a plurality of phase control circuits electrically coupled to the main control circuit, and a plurality of power stage transistors coupled to the plurality of phase control circuits, wherein the main control circuit, the plurality of phase control circuits, and the plurality of power stage transistors are formed in the semiconductor die, wherein power for the plurality of power stage transistors is to be provided via underutilized die interconnect elements on the semiconductor die, wherein the underutilized die interconnect elements are within cache memory formed in the semiconductor die and are not required to provide power or signals to the cache memory, and wherein at least a portion of the plurality of power stage transistors are formed within the cache memory.