Tools and methodologies for power sensitive design

Power consumption has become a critical design parameter for many applications. At the same time, technology advances following Moore´s Law have led to faster and more complex circuits which consume ever increasing amounts of power. While power consumption issues have historically been treated by reducing the supply voltage, these issues have become sufficiently challenging as to require much more design attention and significant amounts of design automation. This paper discusses the various types of design automation that address power consumption issues, and presents a comprehensive design flow incorporating multiple levels and types of power sensitive design tools.