Title :
A clock power model to evaluate impact of architectural and technology optimizations
Author :
Duarte, David E. ; Vijaykrishnan, N. ; Irwin, Mary Jane
Author_Institution :
Dept. of Comput. Sci. & Eng., Pennsylvania State Univ., University Park, PA, USA
Abstract :
The clock distribution and generation circuitry forms a critical component of current synchronous digital systems and is known to consume at least a quarter of the power budget of existing microprocessors. We propose and validate a high level model for evaluating the energy dissipation of the clock generation and distribution circuitry, including both the dynamic and leakage power components. The validation results show that the model is reasonably accurate, with the average deviation being within 10% of SPICE simulations. Access to this model can enable further research at high-level design stages in optimizing the system clock power. To illustrate this, a few architectural modifications are considered and their effect on the clock subsystem and the total system power budget is assessed.
Keywords :
CMOS digital integrated circuits; VLSI; capacitance; circuit optimisation; digital phase locked loops; integrated circuit design; integrated circuit modelling; low-power electronics; synchronisation; timing; PLL; VLSI low-power-design; architectural modifications; architectural optimization; clock distribution circuitry; clock generation circuitry; clock power model; clock subsystem power budget; digital CMOS ICs; dynamic power component; energy dissipation evaluation; high level model; high-level design stages; leakage power component; microprocessors; phase-locked-loop; synchronous digital systems; technology optimization; total system power budget; Circuit simulation; Clocks; Design optimization; Digital systems; Energy dissipation; Microprocessors; Power generation; Power system modeling; SPICE; Synchronous generators;
Journal_Title :
Very Large Scale Integration (VLSI) Systems, IEEE Transactions on
DOI :
10.1109/TVLSI.2002.808433
