Variation resilient adaptive controller for subthreshold circuits

B. Mishra, B.M. Al-Hashimi, M. Zwolinski
2009 2009 Design, Automation & Test in Europe Conference & Exhibition  
Subthreshold logic is showing good promise as a viable ultra-low-power circuit design technique for powerlimited applications. For this design technique to gain widespread adoption, one of the most pressing concerns is how to improve the robustness of subthreshold logic to process and temperature variations. We propose a variation resilient adaptive controller for subthreshold circuits with the following novel features: new sensor based on time-to-digital converter for capturing the variations
more » ... ccurately as digital signatures, and an all-digital DC-DC converter incorporating the sensor capable of generating an operating operating V dd from 0V to 1.2V with a resolution of 18.75mV, suitable for subthreshold circuit operation. The benefits of the proposed controller is reflected with energy improvement of upto 55% compared to when no controller is employed. The detailed implementation and validation of the proposed controller is discussed.
doi:10.1109/date.2009.5090648 dblp:conf/date/MishraAZ09 fatcat:q4e6hqa73be6birftbigt65yja