Title :
Low-Power Near-Threshold Design: Techniques to Improve Energy Efficiency Energy-efficient near-threshold design has been proposed to increase energy efficiency across a wid
Author :
Pinckney, Nathaniel ; Blaauw, David ; Sylvester, Dennis
Author_Institution :
Electr. Eng. & Comput. Sci. Dept., Univ. of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA
Abstract :
Energy-efficient near-threshold design has been proposed to increase energy efficiency across a wide range of applications. This article first provides a background motivating near-threshold and how it differs from super-threshold and subthreshold operation. Next, state-of-the-art near-threshold techniques are summarized that help overcome barriers to near-threshold adoption, namely high variation at low voltage. Last, example industrial and academic wide-voltage scaling systems are discussed.
Keywords :
energy conservation; integrated circuit design; low-power electronics; microprocessor chips; energy efficiency improvement; energy-efficient near-threshold design; low-power near-threshold design; near-threshold adoption; processors; subthreshold operation; super-threshold operation; voltage scaling systems; Delays; Energy efficiency; Logic gates; Low voltage; Threshold voltage; Transistors;
Journal_Title :
Solid-State Circuits Magazine, IEEE
DOI :
10.1109/MSSC.2015.2418151