PivotPoint: clockless crossbar switch for high-performance embedded systems

PivotPoint is a blended synchronous-asynchronous system on chip (SoC). That is, designers employed synchronous and asynchronous methodologies in the design, using whichever was most advantageous for a given region of the circuit. A generally available commercial product, PivotPoint primarily contains high-performance asynchronous logic. Although the technology´s promise motivated the design effort, many architecture and methodology innovations occurred along the way in creating a commercially viable clockless IC. Synchronous systems dedicate a significant percentage of the clock period to margin during which there is no useful logical computation. Design margin can be the largest; it is the difference between the worst-case paths in the clock domain, which define the clock period, and the average-case paths. Shrinking this difference requires considerable engineering and/or methodology work.