The Optimal Fan-Out of Clock Network for Power Minimization by Adaptive Gating

Gating of the clock signal in VLSI chips is nowadays a mainstream design methodology for reducing switching power consumption. In this paper we develop a probabilistic model of the clock gating network that allows us to quantify the expected power savings and the implied overhead. Expressions for the power savings in a gated clock tree are presented and the optimal gater fan-out is derived, based on flip-flops toggling probabilities and process technology parameters. The resulting clock gating methodology achieves 10% savings of the total clock tree switching power. The timing implications of the proposed gating scheme are discussed. The grouping of FFs for a joint clocked gating is also discussed. The analysis and the results match the experimental data obtained for a 3-D graphics processor and a 16-bit microcontroller, both designed at 65-nanometer technology.