2003 IEEE International Conference on Computer Design (ICCD'03)
A Transparent Voltage Conversion Method and Its Application to a Dual-Supply-Voltage Register File
San Jose, California
October 13-October 15
ISBN: 0-7695-2025-1
We present a new method that facilitates low-to-high voltage conversion in dual-supply-voltage systems. This method leverages from the operation principles of dynamic precharged gates to completely eliminate the area and delay overhead incurred by explicit voltage conversion circuits. A 34 word ? 64 bit, 10 read, 6 write, write-through, dual-supply-voltage experimental register file was implemented in 0.11 ?m, 1.2 V CMOS based on this voltage conversion method. The second supply voltage is used to power internal high-capacitance nodes. Laboratory measurements indicate that when both supply voltages are 1.2 V, the register file dissipates 262 pJ per cycle and has a 1 ns access time. When the internal supply voltage is reduced to 0.7 V, the register file dissipates 191 pJ per cycle and has a 1.5 ns access time.
Citation:
Nestoras Tzartzanis, William W. Walker, "A Transparent Voltage Conversion Method and Its Application to a Dual-Supply-Voltage Register File," iccd, pp.107, 2003 IEEE International Conference on Computer Design (ICCD'03), 2003