A Normally Off Microcontroller Unit with an 84% Power Overhead Reduction Based On Crystalline In-Ga-Zn-Oxide Thin Film Transistors

Abstract

A low-power normally off microcontroller unit (NMCU) having state-retention flip-flops using c-axis aligned crystalline In-Ga-Zn-oxide TFTs and employing a distributed backup and recovery method is fabricated. The NMCU employing a distributed backup and recovery method can reduce power overhead by about 84 and power consumption by about 22 compared to an NMCU employing a centralized backup and recovery method. Further, the NMCU can start main processing after a power on sequence about 74 s earlier.