Low power design of explicit‐pulsed dual‐edge‐triggered level‐converting flip‐flop based on carbon nanotubes field‐effect transistors

Abstract

Power consumption and performance are the two main concerns in designing pulse‐triggered level‐converting flip‐flops (LCFF). In this letter, through the research on the level conversion circuits, an explicit‐pulsed dual‐edge triggered LCFF based on the carbon nanotubes field‐effect transistors (CNTFETs) is proposed by using the multi‐source voltage technology. The proposed flip‐flop increases the speed by reducing the number of transistors in the charge/discharge path. The characteristics of the CNTFETs are used to obtain transistors with different threshold voltages by changing the chiral vector to optimize the circuit structure and further reduce the power consumption. In addition, the power consumption is further reduced due to the small on‐current of the CNTFETs. The proposed novel structure is simulated in HSPICE using the Stanford model. Simulation results indicate that our proposed flip‐flop reduces 62.9% to 72.4% of power consumption and 73.6% to 89.1% of delay in comparison with other flip‐flops proposed in the references at 50% data switching activity.

Data branch sharing dual‐edge explicit‐pulsed level converting flip‐flops

“…Therefore, when the circuits need to be connected with different supply voltages, it is necessary to employ a level converting flip-flop (LCFF) as an interface to complete the level conversion function. [4][5][6][7][8] Although several LCFFs have been proposed in the existing literature, there are still some drawbacks. [9][10][11][12][13] For instance, the required number of transistors is excessive, the power consumption is too large, and the delay is relatively high.…”

“…However, when the low‐voltage block drives the high‐voltage block, the PMOS transistor in the pull network on the high‐voltage circuit cannot be fully closed, increasing the static power consumption. Therefore, when the circuits need to be connected with different supply voltages, it is necessary to employ a level converting flip‐flop (LCFF) as an interface to complete the level conversion function 4–8 …”

Data Branch Sharing Dual-Edge Explicit-Pulsed Level Converting Flip-Flops

“…However, when the low-voltage block drives the high-voltage block, the PMOS transistor in the pull network on the high-voltage circuit cannot be fully closed, increasing the static power consumption. Therefore, when the circuits need to be connected with different supply voltages, it is necessary to employ a level converting flip-flop (LCFF) as an interface to complete the level conversion function [4][5][6][7][8].…”