VLSI affords IC designers the ability to design utilizing less space. Typically, electronic circuits incorporate a CPU, RAM, ROM, and other peripherals on a single PCBA. However, very large-scale integration (VLSI) technology affords an IC designer the ability to add all of these into one chip.
2. CMOS VLSI Design
CMOS VLSI Design 4th Ed.
7: Power 2
Outline
Power and Energy
Dynamic Power
Static Power
3. CMOS VLSI Design
CMOS VLSI Design 4th Ed.
7: Power 3
Power and Energy
Power is drawn from a voltage source attached to
the VDD pin(s) of a chip.
Instantaneous Power:
Energy:
Average Power:
( ) ( ) ( )
P t I t V t
0
( )
T
E P t dt
avg
0
1
( )
T
E
P P t dt
T T
4. CMOS VLSI Design
CMOS VLSI Design 4th Ed.
7: Power 4
Power in Circuit Elements
VDD DD DD
P t I t V
2
2
R
R R
V t
P t I t R
R
0 0
2
1
2
0
C
C
V
C
dV
E I t V t dt C V t dt
dt
C V t dV CV
5. CMOS VLSI Design
CMOS VLSI Design 4th Ed.
7: Power 5
Charging a Capacitor
When the gate output rises
– Energy stored in capacitor is
– But energy drawn from the supply is
– Half the energy from VDD is dissipated in the pMOS
transistor as heat, other half stored in capacitor
When the gate output falls
– Energy in capacitor is dumped to GND
– Dissipated as heat in the nMOS transistor
2
1
2
C L DD
E C V
0 0
2
0
DD
VDD DD L DD
V
L DD L DD
dV
E I t V dt C V dt
dt
C V dV C V
7. CMOS VLSI Design
CMOS VLSI Design 4th Ed.
7: Power 7
Switching Power
switching
0
0
sw
2
sw
1
( )
( )
T
DD DD
T
DD
DD
DD
DD
DD
P i t V dt
T
V
i t dt
T
V
Tf CV
T
CV f
C
fsw
iDD
(t)
VDD
8. CMOS VLSI Design
CMOS VLSI Design 4th Ed.
7: Power 8
Activity Factor
Suppose the system clock frequency = f
Let fsw = af, where a = activity factor
– If the signal is a clock, a = 1
– If the signal switches once per cycle, a = ½
Dynamic power:
2
switching DD
P CV f
a
9. CMOS VLSI Design
CMOS VLSI Design 4th Ed.
7: Power 9
Short Circuit Current
When transistors switch, both nMOS and pMOS
networks may be momentarily ON at once
Leads to a blip of “short circuit” current.
< 10% of dynamic power if rise/fall times are
comparable for input and output
We will generally ignore this component
11. CMOS VLSI Design
CMOS VLSI Design 4th Ed.
7: Power 11
Dynamic Power Example
1 billion transistor chip
– 50M logic transistors
• Average width: 12 l
• Activity factor = 0.1
– 950M memory transistors
• Average width: 4 l
• Activity factor = 0.02
– 1.0 V 65 nm process
– C = 1 fF/mm (gate) + 0.8 fF/mm (diffusion)
Estimate dynamic power consumption @ 1 GHz.
Neglect wire capacitance and short-circuit current.
12. CMOS VLSI Design
CMOS VLSI Design 4th Ed.
7: Power 12
Solution
6
logic
6
mem
2
dynamic logic mem
50 10 12 0.025 / 1.8 / 27 nF
950 10 4 0.025 / 1.8 / 171 nF
0.1 0.02 1.0 1.0 GHz 6.1 W
C m fF m
C m fF m
P C C
l m l m
l m l m
13. CMOS VLSI Design
CMOS VLSI Design 4th Ed.
7: Power 13
Dynamic Power Reduction
Try to minimize:
– Activity factor
– Capacitance
– Supply voltage
– Frequency
2
switching DD
P CV f
a
14. CMOS VLSI Design
CMOS VLSI Design 4th Ed.
7: Power 14
Activity Factor Estimation
Let Pi = Prob(node i = 1)
– Pi = 1-Pi
ai = Pi * Pi
Completely random data has P = 0.5 and a = 0.25
Data is often not completely random
– e.g. upper bits of 64-bit words representing bank
account balances are usually 0
Data propagating through ANDs and ORs has lower
activity factor
– Depends on design, but typically a ≈ 0.1
16. CMOS VLSI Design
CMOS VLSI Design 4th Ed.
7: Power 16
Example
A 4-input AND is built out of two levels of gates
Estimate the activity factor at each node if the inputs
have P = 0.5
18. CMOS VLSI Design
CMOS VLSI Design 4th Ed.
7: Power 18
Clock Gating
The best way to reduce the activity is to turn off the
clock to registers in unused blocks
– Saves clock activity (a = 1)
– Eliminates all switching activity in the block
– Requires determining if block will be used
19. CMOS VLSI Design
CMOS VLSI Design 4th Ed.
7: Power 19
Capacitance
Gate capacitance
– Fewer stages of logic
– Small gate sizes
Wire capacitance
– Good floorplanning to keep communicating
blocks close to each other
– Drive long wires with inverters or buffers rather
than complex gates
20. CMOS VLSI Design
CMOS VLSI Design 4th Ed.
7: Power 20
Voltage / Frequency
Run each block at the lowest possible voltage and
frequency that meets performance requirements
Voltage Domains
– Provide separate supplies to different blocks
– Level converters required when crossing
from low to high VDD domains
Dynamic Voltage Scaling
– Adjust VDD and f according to
workload
21. CMOS VLSI Design
CMOS VLSI Design 4th Ed.
7: Power 21
Static Power Example
Revisit power estimation for 1 billion transistor chip
Estimate static power consumption
– Subthreshold leakage
• Normal Vt: 100 nA/mm
• High Vt: 10 nA/mm
• High Vt used in all memories and in 95% of
logic gates
– Gate leakage 5 nA/mm
– Junction leakage negligible
22. CMOS VLSI Design
CMOS VLSI Design 4th Ed.
7: Power 22
Solution
t
t
t t
t t
6 6
normal-V
6 6 6
high-V
normal-V high-V
normal-V high-V
50 10 12 0.025 m / 0.05 0.75 10 m
50 10 12 0.95 950 10 4 0.025 m / 109.25 10 m
100 nA/ m+ 10 nA/ m / 2 584 mA
5 nA/ m / 2
sub
gate
W
W
I W W
I W W
l m l m
l l m l m
m m
m
275 mA
P 584 mA 275 mA 1.0 V 859 mW
static
23. CMOS VLSI Design
CMOS VLSI Design 4th Ed.
7: Power 23
Power Gating
Turn OFF power to blocks when they are idle to
save leakage
– Use virtual VDD (VDDV)
– Gate outputs to prevent
invalid logic levels to next block
Voltage drop across sleep transistor degrades
performance during normal operation
– Size the transistor wide enough to minimize
impact
Switching wide sleep transistor costs dynamic power
– Only justified when circuit sleeps long enough