Title :
Process variation tolerant on-chip communication using receiver and driver reconfiguration
Author :
Nigussie, Ethiopia ; Plosila, Juha ; Isoaho, Jouni
Author_Institution :
Dept. of Inf. Technol., Univ. of Turku, Turku, Finland
Abstract :
We present a process variation tolerance technique for current sensing on-chip links. Process variation affects the signal integrity of a current sensing receiver. As the amount of worst-case current variation is increasing in sub-100 nm technologies, the conventional worst-case process variation assumption has a high power consumption cost. We propose adjusting currents at every power start-up of the system through receiver and driver reconfiguration when an error is detected. This makes the link adaptive to the effect of variations enabling continuous and reliable operation of the link. It also results in lower power consumption than the worst-case approach. An error detection scheme as well as a reconfiguration algorithm and methodology are developed. Furthermore, reconfiguration control and communication circuits are designed and simulated for a multilevel current sensing link. Depending on the detected error(s), the time it takes to adjust the currents and start the normal data transmission phase ranges from 2.66 ns to 5.72 ns. The proposed technique is area efficient for relatively wider links. For a 64-bits link the overhead is 4.67% silicon area and 2.63% wiring area. The circuits are designed and simulated in Cadence Analog Spectre using 65 nm CMOS technology from STMicroelectronics.
Keywords :
CMOS integrated circuits; driver circuits; integrated circuit design; integrated circuit interconnections; integrated circuit manufacture; receivers; CMOS technology; Cadence Analog Spectre; adaptive link; current sensing on-chip link; current sensing receiver; driver reconfiguration; multilevel current sensing link; process variation tolerant on-chip communication; receiver reconfiguration; size 65 nm; CMOS technology; Circuit simulation; Communication system control; Costs; Data communication; Energy consumption; Phase detection; Power system reliability; Signal processing; Silicon; Process variation; current sensing on-chip links; variation adaptation and reconfiguration;
Conference_Titel :
Quality Electronic Design (ISQED), 2010 11th International Symposium on
Conference_Location :
San Jose, CA
Print_ISBN :
978-1-4244-6454-8
DOI :
10.1109/ISQED.2010.5450534