Performance enhancement through the generalized bypass transform

The authors introduce a novel method for the acceleration of general logic circuits based on the assumption that the delay of a circuit is its longest sensitizable (non-false) path. Hence, circuits are accelerated not by reducing path length but by making paths false. The method is based on generalizing the transformation used to obtain the bypass adder to automatically, in an area efficient way, reduce the delay of any combinational logic circuit with paths of varying length. The authors prove that a circuit realizing any function can be accelerated in this manner, give a general algorithm, and prove bounds on the size of the gain expected.<>