CPA-DA: Design Techniques and Tools to Enable and Enhance Coarse-Grain Power Gating in ASIC Designs

PI: Pedram， massoud提案号：0811876标题：CPA-DA：设计技术和工具，以实现和增强ASIC设计中的粗粒度功率门控机构：南加州大学该项目侧重于ASIC设计中的粗粒度功率门控，其切换整个块/行标准单元。这种选择是由于与细粒度功率门控相比，粗粒度功率门控的成本更低，泄漏更少，细粒度功率门控在ASIC设计库中的每个标准单元中插入标头或页脚。预计项目结果将包括以下内容：(i)分布式睡眠晶体管的放置和尺寸；（ii）睡眠信号调度以最小化唤醒时的峰值电流需求；模式转换能量最小化，使模式转换更频繁；（iv）自主电源门控的局部睡眠信号生成；(v)功率门控，使能多种功率模式。本提案旨在通过开发算法或数学编程解决方案来解决每个步骤，并通过开发设计流程和原型软件工具来解决这些任务，从而使这种非常有趣和重要的技术在ASIC设计中得到广泛采用。半导体行业？美国2006年2610亿美元的收入并不能准确反映其在推动47万亿美元（按购买力平价计算为61万亿美元）的世界经济繁荣和增长中所起的关键作用。该行业是世界各国人民和政府未来繁荣所依赖的系统和技术的基础。该行业目前面临着一些非同寻常的挑战，包括纳米器件的可变性以及电路和系统中的过度功耗。为了使该行业继续发展和繁荣，解决这些挑战至关重要。拟议的研究承担了这两个基本挑战之一，即？电力危机?。拟议研究的决定性影响将是使CMOS规模在未来10-15年内持续不减。此外，该项目将积极吸引研究生和本科生的学生。对于研究生来说，积极参与研究工作将增强他们的创造性和多学科思维，为他们未来的独立工作做好准备。π吗?S致力于让本科生参与精心设计的项目，这将有助于培养他们对科研活动的持久热情。将研究纳入课程发展和课堂教学，将为研究成果的传播提供一个强有力的场所，大大补充了传统的会议和档案期刊。

PI: Pedram, MassoudProposal No: 0811876Title: CPA-DA: Design Techniques and Tools to Enable and Enhance Coarse-Grain Power Gating in ASIC DesignsInstitution: University of Southern CaliforniaThis project focuses on coarse-grain power gating in ASIC designs, which switches entire blocks/rows of standard cells. This choice is due to lower cost and greater leakage savings of coarse-grain power gating compared to its fine-grain counterpart, which inserts the header or footer in each standard cell in the ASIC design library. The project results are expected to include the following: (i) Distributed sleep transistor placement and sizing; (ii) Sleep signal scheduling to minimize the peak current demand on wakeup; (iii) Mode transition energy minimization to enable more frequent mode transitions; (iv) Local sleep signal generation for autonomous power gating; and (v) Power gating to enable multiple power modes. This proposal aims to address each of these tasks by developing algorithmic or mathematical programming solutions to solving each step and by developing a design flow and prototype software tools that enable widespread adoption of this very interesting and important technology in the ASIC design. The semiconductor industry?s $261 B in 2006 revenue does not accurately reflect its crucial role in enabling a $47 T ($61 T on a PPP basis) world economy to thrive and grow. This industry underpins the systems and technologies on which the people and governments of the world rely on for future prosperity. This industry is currently facing some extraordinary challenges, including variability of nano devices as well as excessive power dissipation in circuits and systems. In order for the industry to continue to expand and prosper, it is critical to address these challenges heads on. The proposed research takes on one of these two fundamental challenges, i.e., the ?power crisis?. The decisive impact of the proposed research will be the enablement of the CMOS scaling to continue unabated for the next 10-15 years. Moreover, the project will actively engage students both at graduate and undergraduate levels. For graduate students, active participation in the research work will enhance their creative and multidisciplinary thinking and prepare them for future independent work. The PI?s commitment of involving undergraduate students in carefully designed projects will help foster their long lasting enthusiasm in scientific research activities. Integration of research into curriculum development and classroom teaching will provide a powerful venue for the dissemination of research results that greatly compliments the traditional venues of conferences and archival journals.