Ultra-low power volatile and non-volatile asynchronous circuits using back-biasing

Autonomous wireless sensor nodes are creating a great opportunity for non-volatile memories as, very often, those systems are recovering their energy from their surrounding environment. Those systems require low leakage and data backup when the circuit is sporadically turned off. We propose, in this paper, volatile and non-volatile asynchronous circuits using UTBB FDSOI specificities to minimize leakage and read/write energy cost. This is done by efficiently coupling asynchronous design techniques based on activity detection, FDSOI back-biasing and MRAM C-Elements implementation. It is possible to use request/acknowledgment mechanism implemented in each asynchronous block of the circuit to automatically detect its activity and therefore locally reduce the leakage. We also demonstrate by mixed-signal simulations that Back Biasing mechanism can reduce the non-volatility energy cost by 30%.