Managing power and performance for System-on-Chip designs using Voltage Islands

• Published in: Digest of technical papers - IEEE/ACM International Conference on Computer-Aided Design pp. 195 - 202
• Main Authors: Lackey, David E., Zuchowski, Paul S., Bednar, Thomas R., Stout, Douglas W., Gould, Scott W., Cohn, John M.
• Format: Conference Proceeding
• Language: English
• Published: New York, NY, USA ACM 10.11.2002; IEEE
• Series: ACM Conferences
• Subjects: Applied sciences; Computer systems organization > Architectures; Design. Technologies. Operation analysis. Testing; Electronics; Exact sciences and technology; Integrated circuits; Semiconductor electronics. Microelectronics. Optoelectronics. Solid state devices; Software and its engineering > Software creation and management > Software development process management > Software development methods; Performance evaluation; System architecture; Power consumption; Circuit design; Performance requirement; Integrated circuit; Product development; System on a chip; Computer aided design; Implementation
• DOI: 10.1145/774572.774601
• ISBN: 0780376072; 9780780376076
• ISSN: 1092-3152

This paper discusses Voltage Islands, a system architecture and chip implementation methodology, that can be used to dramatically reduce active and static power consumption for System-on-Chip (SoC) designs. As technology scales for increased circuit density and performance, the need to reduce power consumption increases in significance as designers strive to utilize the advancing silicon capabilities. The consumer product market further drives the need to minimize chip power consumption.Effective use of Voltage Islands for meeting SoC power and performance requirements, while meeting Time to Market (TAT) demands, requires novel approaches throughout the design flow as well as special circuit components and chip powering structures. This paper outlines methods being used today to design Voltage Islands in a rapid-TAT product development environment, and discusses the need for industry EDA advances to create an industry-wide Voltage Island design capability.