Exploring Variability and Performance in a Sub-200-mV Processor

Hanson, Scott; Zhai, Bin; Seok, Mingoo; Cline, Brian; Zhou, Kevin; Singhal, M.; Minuth, M.; Olson, J.; Nazhandali, Leyla; Austin, Todd; Sylvester, Dennis; Blaauw, David

doi:10.1109/jssc.2008.917505

Cited by 142 publications

(95 citation statements)

References 21 publications

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“…For this circuit, capacitors C 1 and C 2 are approximately 600 fF, Fig. 12 shows the chip micrograph, and the chip area is approximately 0.03 mm 2 . The clock frequency is 1 kHz, and the off-chip capacitor C L used for the output filter capacitor is 100 pF.…”

Section: Measurement Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Interest in subthreshold CMOS circuits with power supply voltages below V th (the transistor threshold voltage when other effects are neglected) is growing because reducing the operating voltage can effectively achieve ultra-low-power dissipation [1][2][3][4]. For these circuits, the reference voltage decreases as the supply voltage is reduced.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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A Nano-power Switched-capacitor Voltage Reference Using MOS Body Effect for Applications in Subthreshold LSI

Zhang¹,

Huang²,

Zhang³

et al. 2014

JSTS:Journal of Semiconductor Technology and Science

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Abstract-A nano-power CMOS voltage reference is proposed in this paper. Through a combination of switched-capacitor technology with the body effect in MOSFETs, the output voltage is defined as the difference between two gate-source voltages using only a single PMOS transistor operated in the subthreshold region, which has low sensitivity to the temperature and supply voltage. A low output, which breaks the threshold restriction, is produced without any subdivision of the components, and flexible trimming capability can be achieved with a composite transistor, such that the chip area is saved. The chip is implemented in 0.18 µm standard CMOS technology. Measurements show that the output voltage is approximately 123.3 mV, the temperature coefficient is 17.6 ppm/ o C, and the line sensitivity is 0.15 %/V. When the supply voltage is 1 V, the supply current is less than 90 nA at room temperature. The area occupation is approximately 0.03 mm 2 .

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Section: Measurement Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Nano-power Switched-capacitor Voltage Reference Using MOS Body Effect for Applications in Subthreshold LSI

Zhang¹,

Huang²,

Zhang³

et al. 2014

JSTS:Journal of Semiconductor Technology and Science

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…To achieve different computations with MEPs will require different V dd , therefore adaptive V dd controller is necessary. Operating the circuits at very low voltage subthreshold region are susceptible to process variation [1]. In this paper we show that the proposed architecture with the DC-DC converter can be made more variation resilient to process and temperature variations.…”

Section: Introduction and Related Workmentioning

confidence: 87%

“…Over the last couple of years there has been considerable progress in designing subthreshold circuits and architectures that operate with supply voltages (V dd ) well below the transistor threshold voltage (V th ) and with minimum computation energy. Recent examples include a 3.5 pJ inst processor [1], a 27.3 pJ inst microcontroller [2], 180mV FFT processor [3] and 1.33 pJ sample FIR filter [4]. Most of the recent research efforts in the area of subthreshold logic has been focusing on addressing variability [5] [6].…”

Section: Introduction and Related Workmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Scaling the supply voltage further below V opt may result in correct circuit operation but doesn't necessarily improve energy efficiency because the leakage energy starts to dominate. In [1], the importance of both process variations and the MEP operation for subthreshold circuits is reported. MEP in subthreshold circuits varies with the computation carried out [9].…”

Section: Introduction and Related Workmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Variation resilient adaptive controller for subthreshold circuits

Mishra

Al-Hashimi

Zwoliński

2009

2009 Design, Automation &Amp; Test in Europe Conference &Amp; Exhibition

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Abstract-Subthreshold logic is showing good promise as a viable ultra-low-power circuit design technique for powerlimited applications. For this design technique to gain widespread adoption, one of the most pressing concerns is how to improve the robustness of subthreshold logic to process and temperature variations. We propose a variation resilient adaptive controller for subthreshold circuits with the following novel features: new sensor based on time-to-digital converter for capturing the variations accurately as digital signatures, and an all-digital DC-DC converter incorporating the sensor capable of generating an operating operating V dd from 0V to 1.2V with a resolution of 18.75mV, suitable for subthreshold circuit operation. The benefits of the proposed controller is reflected with energy improvement of upto 55% compared to when no controller is employed. The detailed implementation and validation of the proposed controller is discussed.

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Ultralow‐Voltage Design of Nanometer CMOS Circuits for Smart Energy‐Autonomous Systems

Bol

2012

Advanced Circuits for Emerging Technologies

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Energy-autonomous systems (EAS) are small electronic devices performing light tasks such as data acquisition, processing, storing and communication without the connection to a power grid. EAS thus require ultra-low power consumption while being powered by tiny batteries and/or harvesting energy from their environments. Current EAS applications feature passive RFID tags, biomedical devices and basic sensor networks. The pervasive vision of a world where human beings are surrounded by ambient intelligence implies the deployment of a swarm of un-thethered devices. To support this vision, there is a crucial need to significantly enhance the computing capability of existing EAS with rich signal processing, data encryption/decryption and error-tolerant communications, leading to so-called "smart EAS". This can only be achieved in a cost-effective way by using the most advanced nanometer CMOS technologies to enjoy their high logic and memory densities. Moreover, the slow progress of battery and energyharvesting technologies limits the power budget for smart EAS in the 1-100 µW range. In this tutorial, we propose to combine nanometer CMOS technologies with ultra-low-voltage (ULV) operation to fit the new computing capability of smart EAS within this tight power budget.

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Exploring Variability and Performance in a Sub-200-mV Processor

Cited by 142 publications

References 21 publications

A Nano-power Switched-capacitor Voltage Reference Using MOS Body Effect for Applications in Subthreshold LSI

A Nano-power Switched-capacitor Voltage Reference Using MOS Body Effect for Applications in Subthreshold LSI

Variation resilient adaptive controller for subthreshold circuits

Ultralow‐Voltage Design of Nanometer CMOS Circuits for Smart Energy‐Autonomous Systems

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