An implementation of a 32-bit ARM processor using dual power supplies and dual threshold voltages

With the explosion of portable electronic devices, power efficient processors have become increasingly important. In this paper we present a set of circuit techniques to implement a 32-bit low-power ARM processor, found commonly in embedded systems, using a six metal layer 0.18 μm TSMC process. Our methodology is based on Clustered Voltage Scaling (CVS) and dual-V_th techniques aiming to reduce both dynamic power and static power simultaneously.