Asynchronous design for new on-chip wide dynamic range power electronics

Asynchronous circuits will play an important role in microelectronic systems in the future, especially in energy harvesting and autonomous (EHA) systems where such circuits will be able to offer robustness and deliver high efficiency in a wide range of power-energy conditions. The concept of Capacitor Bank Block (CBB) mechanisms was proposed to form the basis of electronics for powering asynchronous loads. These mechanisms will benefit EHA systems by enabling effective co-scheduling of computational tasks and energy supply. This paper demonstrates how the CBB mechanisms can themselves be controlled by asynchronous circuits, thereby forming a new type of power delivery units (PDU) that will be able to deliver power to intelligent digital logic in future EHA systems. These PDUs are superior to traditional power converters largely because the latter can only regulate sufficiently high power and energy levels (regular and periodic) as well as their controllers require stable power levels themselves. This makes them unsuitable for intermittent and sporadic conditions inherent to EHA systems. In this paper, a novel asynchronous control for the CBB is described. Experiments and analysis of the new PDUs, comprising CBBs and asynchronous control, are presented and discussed in detail.