Journal of the Institute of Electronics Engineers of Korea SD (대한전자공학회논문지SD)

The Institute of Electronics and Information Engineers (대한전자공학회)
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MTCMOS ASIC Design Methodology for High Performance Low Power Mobile Computing Applications

고성능 저전력 모바일 컴퓨팅 제품을 위한 MTCMOS ASIC 설계 방식

  • Kim Kyosun (Department of Electronic Engineering, University of Incheon) ;
  • Won Hyo-Sig (CAE Center, Samsung Electronics)
  • Published : 2005.02.01
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Abstract

The Multi-Threshold CMOS (MTCMOS) technology provides a solution to the high performance and low power design requirements of mobile computing applications. In this paper, we (i) motivate the post-mask-tooling performance enhancement technique combined with the MTCMOS leakage current suppression technology, and (ii) develop a practical MTCMOS ASIC design methodology which fine-tunes and integrates best-in-class techniques and commercially available tools to fix the new design issues related to the MTCMOS technology. Towards validating the proposed techniques, a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA) processor has been implemented using the methodology, and a 0.18um Process. The fabricated PDA processor operates at 333MHz which has been improved about $23\%$ at no additional cost of redesign and masks, and consumes about 2uW of standby mode leakage power which could have been three orders of magnitude larger if the MTCMOS technology was not applied.

다중 문턱 전압 CMOS (Multi-Threshold voltage CMOS, MTCMOS) 기술은 모바일 컴퓨팅 제품에서 요구되는 고성능 저전력 특성을 제공한다. 본 논문에서는 먼저 MTCMOS의 누설 전류 차단 기술과 이온 주입 농도 조정을 융합한 마스크 제작 사후 성능 향상 기법을 소개한다. 그리고 MTCMOS 기술에 관련하여 발생하는 새로운 설계 이슈들을 해결하는 최신 기술들을 집적하여 개발된 MTCMOS ASIC 설계 방법론을 제시한다. 특히, 현존하는 상업용 소프트웨어로 설계 흐름을 구현하고 있어 실용성이 높다. 제안된 기법들의 효용성을 검증하기 위해 0.18um 기술에 적용하여 PDA 프로세서를 구현하였다. 제작된 PDA 프로세서는 333MHz에서 동작하였다. 이는 재설계 및 마스크 제작비용 없이 단지 이온 주입 농도 조정으로 약 $23\%$의 추가적인 성능 향상 효과를 나타낸 성과이다. 이 때, 대기 시 누설 전력 소모는 2uW를 유지함으로써 MTCMOS 기술 적용 전 대비 수천 배 억제하는 효과를 얻었다.

Keywords

References

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