An energy estimation method for asynchronous circuits with application to an asynchronous microprocessor

Author

Enzes, Paul I P ; Martin, Alain J.

Author_Institution

Dept. of Comput. Sci., California Inst. of Technol., Pasadena, CA, USA

fYear

2002

fDate

2002

Firstpage

640

Lastpage

647

Abstract

This paper presents a simulator operating on a logical representation of an asynchronous circuit that gives energy estimates within 10% of electrical (hspice) simulation. Our simulator is the first such tool in the literature specifically targeted to efficient energy estimation of QDI asynchronous circuits. As an application, we show how the simulator has been used to accurately estimate the energy consumption in different parts of an asynchronous MIPS R3000 microprocessor. This is the first energy breakdown of an asynchronous microprocessor in the literature

Keywords

CMOS digital integrated circuits; asynchronous circuits; circuit simulation; integrated circuit design; logic simulation; low-power electronics; microprocessor chips; CMOS circuits; MIPS R3000 microprocessor; QDI asynchronous circuits; asynchronous circuits; asynchronous microprocessor; energy breakdown; energy consumption; energy estimation method; logical representation simulator; quasi-delay-insensitive circuits; Asynchronous circuits; Automatic testing; Design automation; Europe;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Design, Automation and Test in Europe Conference and Exhibition, 2002. Proceedings

Conference_Location

Paris

ISSN

1530-1591

Print_ISBN

0-7695-1471-5

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/DATE.2002.999207

Filename

999207