Low voltage and low power: how low can you go?

Power management is an important design issue. For mobile electronics, the motivation is to extend battery life. For desktop systems, the design goal is to reduce audible noise from cooling fans which are a cause of annoyance, and to reduce the heat release in closed environments. For large systems, the motivation is to hold the packaging cost down. In communication applications, the limit on RF power is decided by factors such as distance from transmitter/receiver, geographic location etc. In digital electronics, the governing factors behind power dissipation can be summarized by three aspects of VLSI design: power supply voltage, switching activity and capacitances. Reducing any of these factors can reduce the power requirement. This paper discusses the problems in managing these factors and offers effective ways of dealing with it