Adaptive MTCMOS for dynamic leakage and frequency control using variable footer strength

Deviations in leakage and delay due to process variation have increased greatly with technology scaling. This paper presents two adaptive MTCMOS schemes to address the growing leakage and delay spreads found in modem high-performance designs. Variable-gate voltage MTCMOS adjusts the applied gate voltage on footer devices while variable-width MTCMOS adaptively turns on or off footers in a circuit block. Both techniques compensate for the spread in leakage and delay. Our results show a 21%-61% decrease in runtime leakage with a worst-case delay penalty of 9%.