Multiple-output low-power linear feedback shift register design

In this paper, we present a new low-power architecture for linear feedback shift registers (LFSRs) that produces the output of several clock cycles of a serial LFSR at once while reducing the activity factors of the flip-flop outputs. The frequency of operation can thus be reduced by a factor equal to the number of outputs produced at a time. A reduction in the frequency of the LFSR allows for a reduction in the power-supply voltage. Thus, dynamic power dissipation is reduced by up to 93% due to decreases in power-supply voltage, frequency, and the activity factor. Furthermore, the hardware needed for our implementation is far less than previous low-power implementations of both single and multiple-output LFSRs. Our method is also good for built-in self-test (BIST) applications because for most degrees of N it results in all 2^N-1 distinct patterns.