A semiconductor integrated circuit includes one or more voltage drop
detection circuits located at one or more measurement points within the
integrated circuit to detect drops in the power supply potential at those
points. The voltage drop detection circuits output signals indicating
whether the power supply potential is within tolerance, or whether the
power supply potential has fallen and corrective action is required.
Being located near the measurement points, the voltage drop detection
circuits can measure the power supply potential without being disturbed
by electrical noise elsewhere in the semiconductor integrated circuit.
The signals output by the voltage detection circuits can be reliably
brought to external terminals despite the presence of such noise, because
the output signals are bi-level signals.