250 likes | 367 Views
Design Considerations in CLBs for Deep Sub-Micron Technologies. Louis Alarc ó n Octavian Florescu. Motivation. As technology scales… The effects due to process variations will become more pronounced. Regular structures are needed to mitigate these effects.
E N D
Design Considerations in CLBs for Deep Sub-Micron Technologies Louis Alarcón Octavian Florescu
Motivation As technology scales… • The effects due to process variations will become more pronounced. • Regular structures are needed to mitigate these effects. • Leakage will increase as the VTH are scaled. • Low leakage architectures will be needed to control stand-by power.
Stack Regular Low Leakage Slow due to RC delay Current Sensing Recover performance loss through smaller voltage swings. Current Sense OUT OUT CLK S S Pass Transistor Stack Data Inputs Program Bits Configurable Logic Block
P0 B S A to sense amp Root Input B Logic Programming (P0, P1, P2, P3) S A B B The Stack • Inverted multiplexer tree • “pseudo-differential” currents at the outputs • Data inputs: 4 • Program bits: 16
I1 V2 V1 IOFF 0 V1 V2 ION IBIAS V = V1 - V2 > 0 ION IOFF CLB V2 V1 ION IOFF Sense Amplifier Topologies Conditional Precharge Sense Amplifier (CP) Clamped Bit-Line Sense Amplifier (CBL) DCVSL-based Sense Amplifier (DCVSL-SA)
I1 V2 V1 IOFF 0 V1 V2 ION IBIAS V = V1 - V2 > 0 ION IOFF V2 V1 CLB ION IOFF Sense Amplifier Topologies Conditional Precharge Sense Amplifier (CP) Clamped Bit-Line Sense Amplifier (CBL) DCVSL-based Sense Amplifier (DCVSL-SA)
I1 V2 V1 IOFF 0 ION IBIAS V1 V2 V = V1 - V2 > 0 ION IOFF V2 V1 CLB ION IOFF Sense Amplifier Topologies Conditional Precharge Sense Amplifier (CP) Clamped Bit-Line Sense Amplifier (CBL) DCVSL-based Sense Amplifier (DCVSL-SA)
I1 V2 V1 IOFF 0 ION IBIAS V = V1 - V2 > 0 V2 V1 ION IOFF Sense Amplifier Topologies Conditional Precharge Sense Amplifier (CP) V1 V2 ION IOFF CLB Clamped Bit-Line Sense Amplifier (CBL) DCVSL-based Sense Amplifier (DCVSL-SA)
Leakage Current CBL CMOS CMOS CP CBL TG DCVSL-SA DCVSL-SA TG CP EDP and Leakage EDP Looks too good to be true? It probably is…
Process Variation and Mismatch ION,min needed by the sense amplifier V should be > 0 for proper sensing upsize ION VSA CLB (Stack) CP SA Root Input ION VSA IOFF
CBL CP CBL DCVSL-SA DCVSL-SA CP Sizing for Yield Leakage Current EDP • Yield Target: 99% (Monte Carlo process and mismatch simulations) • needs to be verified in silicon
Solid line has a 99% yield over all process corners. Overkill? The yield increases as VDD increases Constant Yield Lines CP (Upsized) CLB: 10x CP Sense Amp: 2x EDP CP Performance Loss CP
Dash-dotted line represents a constant Yield Line. Size of CLB tailored to desired Yield and VDD. Constant Yield Lines CP (Upsized) CLB: 10x CP Sense Amp: 2x EDP CP B 99% yield line A CP YieldB = YieldA
Constant Yield Lines CP (Upsized) CLB: 10x CP Sense Amp: 2x Upsized EDP EDP CP B 99% yield line CP A CMOS CP TG YieldB = YieldA
Constant Yield Lines Upsized EDP CBL (Upsized) EDP CBL CBL B CBL 99% line CP A CBL CMOS TG YieldB = YieldA
Constant Yield Lines Upsized EDP EDP CBL DCVSL-SA (Upsized) CP B DCVSL-SA 99% line CMOS A DCVSL-SA TG DCVSL-SA YieldB = YieldA
EDP (w/o sizing for yield) EDP (constant yield) CBL CBL CP CP CMOS CMOS TG TG DCVSL-SA DCVSL-SA EDP and Yield
EDP (w/o sizing for yield) EDP (constant yield) CBL CBL CP CP CMOS CMOS TG TG DCVSL-SA DCVSL-SA EDP and Yield High Voltage Space
EDP (constant yield) CBL Leakage Current CMOS CP CBL CMOS DCVSL-SA TG TG CP DCVSL-SA Summary of Results • DCVSL-SA best performing SA, and competitive with current TG and CMOS implementations. However… • More difficult to design • Analog-like design process • Less versatile • Mandatory latch at the output • DVS • Higher design risk • 6 unacceptable
Summary of Results • DCVSL-SA best performing SA, and competitive with current TG and CMOS implementations. However… • More difficult to design • Analog-like design process • Less versatile • Mandatory latch at the output • DVS • Higher design risk • 6 unacceptable
Sense Amplifiers in Future Technologies • Design of Sense Amplifiers in the future will become more challenging. • Impact of process variations will become more pronounced • VDD will continue to scale • VSA/VDD increases • VTH/VDD increases • The useful design space will be limited. • Low leakage environments • High voltage, low energy space
Design Considerations in CLBs for Deep Sub-Micron Technologies Louis Alarcon Octavian Florescu
Energy – Delay CP CBL CP CBL CMOS TG DCVSL-SA DCVSL-SA
CBL CP TG CMOS DCVSL-SA Low Threshold Voltage