Input-specific Dynamic Power Optimization for VLSI Circuits

Abstract

Literature proposes linear programming (LP) methods for glitch-less design of digital circuits. Considering the worst-case these methods ensure absence of glitches for any arbitrary state of primary input as well as internal signals. In this paper, we examine an unexplored aspect, i.e., glitch-free design with respect to a specific set of vectors (patterns). Introducing the logic-level concepts of glitch-generation patterns and glitch-generation probability, which are analyzable through logic simulation, we remove glitch filtering requirements from gates on which the given set of input vectors cannot produce glitches. We relax constraints of any existing LP either selectively or probabilistically. Such input-specific design from an LP model without process variation and another with process variation reduced the number of delay buffer overhead by up to 80% and 63%, respectively, while maintaining the power reduction and overall delay