Managing the power consumption of ICs is an increasingly difficult challenge, because each new generation of portable device includes expanded features and demands longer battery lives.

The synchronous vs. asynchronous design debate erupts every now and then, usually when a vocal minority swears by asynchronous design, often claiming that asynchronous design delivers higher ...

As system-on-chip (SoC) designs grow larger, designers must grapple with serious global timing problems, the effect of wire loading and timing delays and the performance hit associated with supporting ...

For a useful primer on circuit design, see Optimize your DSPs for power and performance. To learn how power and performance vary with voltage and temperature, see Push performance and power beyond the ...

Given the growing importance and impact of portable, battery-operated devices in today’s society, it’s easy to understand why power consumption has become such a critical factor in IC design. But it’s ...

Moore’s Law has been the driving force behind computer evolution for more than five decades, fueling the relentless innovation that led to more transistors being added to increasingly smaller ...

Non-mainstream technologies can offer advantages over more commonly used approaches, but usually at some additional cost (otherwise they’d probably be mainstream). The additional cost could be in ...

Fig 1. A typical CMOS input circuit comprises a “P” and “N” transistor. One is fully “on” for logic high, and the other is “on” for a logic low. Fig 2. When a CMOS input pin is at logic high or low ...