Abstract: Column compression multipliers are frequently used in high-performance computer systems due to their short worst case delay. This paper examines the area, delay, and power characteristics of Dadda and Wallace column compression multipliers in deep submircon technology. Our analysis shows that Wallace multipliers have slightly more area and approximately the same worst case delay as Dadda multipliers. It also shows the importance of considering parasitic capacitances when determining the delay of column compression multipliers, since parasitics can increase the delay of the multiplier by over 60%. As multiplier size increases, the ratio of power to area also increases, due to longer interconnect lines and increased glitching.