NDLI: VariPipe: Low-overhead variable-clock synchronous pipelines

Content Provider	IEEE Xplore Digital Library
Author	Toosizadeh, N. Zaky, S.G. Jianwen Zhu
Copyright Year	2009
Description	Author affiliation: Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada (Toosizadeh, N.; Zaky, S.G.; Jianwen Zhu)
Abstract	Synchronous pipelines usually have a fixed clock frequency determined by the worst-case process-voltage-temperature (PVT) analysis of the most critical path. Higher operating frequencies are possible under typical PVT conditions, especially when the most critical path is not triggered. This paper introduces a design methodology that uses asynchronous design to generate the clock of a synchronous pipeline. The result is a variable clock period that changes cycle-by-cycle according to the current operations in the pipeline and the current PVT conditions. The paper also presents a simple design flow to implement variable-clock systems with standard cells using conventional synchronous design tools. The variable-clock pipeline technique has been tested on a 32-bit microprocessor in 90nm technology. Post-layout simulations with three sets of benchmarks demonstrate that the variable-clock processor has a two-fold performance advantage over its fixed-clock counterpart. The overhead of the added clock generation circuit is merely 2.6% in area and 3% in energy consumption, compared to an earlier proposal that costs 100% overhead.
Starting Page	117
Ending Page	124
File Size	514802
Page Count	8
File Format	PDF
ISBN	9781424450299
ISSN	10636404
DOI	10.1109/ICCD.2009.5413167
Language	English
Publisher	Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. (IEEE)
Publisher Date	2009-10-04
Publisher Place	USA
Access Restriction	Subscribed
Rights Holder	Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. (IEEE)
Subject Keyword	Pipelines Clocks Frequency Design methodology Synchronous generators Circuit testing Microprocessors Circuit simulation Benchmark testing Energy consumption
Content Type	Text
Resource Type	Article
Subject	Electrical and Electronic Engineering Hardware and Architecture

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