Resonant clock mega-mesh for the IBM z13TM

The IBM z13 TM microprocessor utilizes a large resonant "mega-mesh" global clock distribution saving 50% of the final-stage clock mesh power and 8% of the total chip power in the desired frequency range of 4.5 to 5.5 GHz compared to a simulated, non-resonant base-line design. The mega-mesh...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in2015 Symposium on VLSI Circuits (VLSI Circuits) pp. C322 - C323
Main Authors Shan, David, Restle, Phillip, Malone, Doug, Groves, Rob, Lai, Eric, Koch, Michael, Hibbeler, Jason, Yong Kim, Vezyrtzis, Christos, Feder, Jan, Hogenmiller, David, Bucelot, Thomas
Format Conference Proceeding
LanguageEnglish
Published jsap 01.06.2015
Subjects
Clocks
Delays
Frequency measurement
Inductors
Microprocessors
Resonant frequency
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Summary:The IBM z13 TM microprocessor utilizes a large resonant "mega-mesh" global clock distribution saving 50% of the final-stage clock mesh power and 8% of the total chip power in the desired frequency range of 4.5 to 5.5 GHz compared to a simulated, non-resonant base-line design. The mega-mesh is driven by pulsed buffers. Measurement of the mega-mesh's robustness is enabled by skew gradients created by programmable delays. The design is implemented in IBM's high-performance 22nm high-k CMOS SOI technology with 17 metal layers [1].
ISBN:9784863485020
4863485026
ISSN:2158-5601
2158-5636
DOI:10.1109/VLSIC.2015.7231308