Title :
A dynamic voltage scaled microprocessor system
Author :
Burd, Thomas D. ; Pering, Trevor A. ; Stratakos, Anthony J. ; Brodersen, Robert W.
Author_Institution :
Berkeley Wireless Res. Centre, California Univ., Berkeley, CA, USA
Abstract :
A microprocessor system is presented in which the supply voltage and clock frequency can be dynamically varied so that the system can deliver high throughput when required while significantly extending battery life during the low speed periods. The system consists of a dc-dc switching regulator, an ARM V4 microprocessor with a 16-kB cache, a bank of 64-kB SRAM ICs, and an I/O interface IC. The four custom chips were fabricated in a standard 0.6-/spl mu/m 3-metal CMOS process. The system can dynamically vary the supply voltage from 1.2 to 3.8 V in less than 70 /spl mu/s. This provides a throughput range of 6-85 MIPS with an energy consumption of 0.54-5.6 mW/MIP yielding an effective energy efficiency as high as 26200 MIPS/W.
Keywords :
CMOS digital integrated circuits; application specific integrated circuits; circuit feedback; clocks; integrated circuit design; low-power electronics; microprocessor chips; 0.54 to 5.6 mW; 0.6 mum; 1.2 to 3.8 V; 3-metal CMOS process; 6 to 85 MIPS; ARM V4 microprocessor; I/O interface IC; SRAM ICs; adaptive processor; battery life extension; clock frequency; custom chips; dc-dc switching regulator; dynamic supply voltage variation; dynamic voltage scaled microprocessor system; effective energy efficiency; energy consumption; high throughput; supply voltage; throughput range; voltage scheduler; Batteries; CMOS integrated circuits; CMOS process; Clocks; Dynamic voltage scaling; Frequency; Microprocessors; Random access memory; Regulators; Throughput;
Journal_Title :
Solid-State Circuits, IEEE Journal of
