A low-power microprocessor based on resonant energy

Author

Athas, William C. ; Tzartzanis, Nestoras ; Svensson, Lars J. ; Peterson, Lena

Author_Institution

Inf. Sci. Inst., Univ. of Southern California, Marina del Rey, CA, USA

Volume

32

Issue

11

fYear

1997

fDate

11/1/1997 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

1693

Lastpage

1701

Abstract

We describe AC-1, a CMOS microprocessor that derives most of its operating power from the clock signals rather than from dc supplies. Clock-powered circuit elements are selectively used to drive high-fan-out nodes. An inductor-based, all-resonant clock-power generator allows us to recover 85% of the clock-drive energy. The measured top frequency for the microprocessor was 58.8 MHz at 26.2 mW. The resulting overall decrease in dissipation ranges from four to five times at clock frequencies from 35 to 54 MHz. We also compare the performance of the processor to a reimplementation in static logic

Keywords

CMOS digital integrated circuits; microprocessor chips; 26.2 mW; 35 to 58.8 MHz; AC-1; circuit element; clock power generator; energy recovery; high-fan-out nodes; low-power CMOS microprocessor; power dissipation; resonant energy; static logic; CMOS digital integrated circuits; CMOS logic circuits; Clocks; Frequency; Logic circuits; Microprocessors; Power dissipation; RLC circuits; Resonance; Voltage;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Solid-State Circuits, IEEE Journal of

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0018-9200

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/4.641689

Filename

641689