Session 15-3

An Optimal Supply Voltage Determiner Circuit for Minimum
Energy Operations

 

Abstract

We have developed a circuit for determining an optimal supply voltage, Vopt, for which energy consumption in circuit operations will be minimized in devices suffering from high-leakage. Experimental results with a 90-nm CMOS device indicate that the proposed circuit successfully determines Vopt within 3% of actual minimum energy consumption. Vopt operations with power gating at 40MHz, and where Vdd=0.67V, results in an energy reduction of 52.8% over that achieved with DVFS alone at 5MHz.