CKVdd: A self-stabilization ramp-Vdd Technique for dynamic power reduction

Abstract

We propose a self-stabilized ramp voltage technique, CKVdd, to reduce power dissipation in conventional CMOS circuit. Normal CMOS circuits show a power increase proportional to clock frequency. CKVdd results in a lower-than-usual power increase. This technique is easily implemented in CMOS circuits. CKVdd technique possesses several characteristics that differ from of the current circuits using Vdd power source. First, CKVdd circuits have less average current and peak current consumption, such that it can be a low power design technique applied to generic digital circuits. Second, CKVdd technique combines the power source and clock signal, and can easily implement the power management mechanism. Compared to constant Vdd for multimedia decoders, the proposed technique has 45% of the usual power dissipation and 88% of the usual peak current reduction at the cost of small delay penalty.