SAN FRANCISCO, Feb. 22, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Texas Instruments
Incorporated (TI) (NYSE: TXN) and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) today presented a joint research paper
detailing design methodologies for a 28-nanometer (nm) mobile
applications processor at the 2011 International Solid-State
Circuits Conference (ISSCC). The paper—"A 28nm 0.6V Low Power
Digital Signal Processor (DSP) for Mobile
Applications"—demonstrates that a DSP is capable of scaling from
high-performance mode at 1.0 volts down to an ultra-low power (ULP)
mode at 0.6 volts (V). This DSP is one of the first system-level,
low voltage, 28nm designs for the mobile device market,
demonstrating TI's continued commitment to enabling lower power and
extended battery life in mobile devices running advanced
applications.
"As the multimedia and computing capabilities of TI's OMAP™
platform-based smartphones, tablets and other mobile devices
increase, there is a continually expanding gap between performance
demands and battery capacity," said Gordon
Gammie, Distinguished Member of the Technical Staff at TI
and ISSCC presenter. "TI believes that 28nm process technology
advancements, developed in tandem with TI and MIT's low power circuit and methodology
collaboration, gives us the right knowledge base to successfully
meet the next-generation processing demands within the future
mobile power envelope."
Key findings
High performance and Ultra-Low Voltage (ULV) designs present
several challenges. Two of the most prominent are low-voltage
functionality and timing closure in the face of process variations
without sacrificing high-voltage performance at nominal
voltage. To address these challenges, TI and MIT successfully developed these two key
methodologies:
- Ultra-low voltage circuits: At low voltages in deep
submicron process nodes, within-die random variation in transistor
threshold voltage can cause circuits to have functional failures. A
standard cell library and custom low-voltage memory using novel ULV
design methodologies are developed to be robust at 0.6V.
- Statistical Static Timing Analysis (SSTA) at low voltage:
The delay distribution of standard cells at low voltages
is no longer a Gaussian random variable. Traditional SSTA tools
based on a Gaussian distribution can suffer from 10-70 percent
underestimation of delay at 0.6V. A newly developed SSTA technique
has been shown to improve the accuracy of design timing at ULV
to less than eight percent. The ability to accurately analyze
low-voltage timing avoids excessive design margins and minimizes
impact to area and high-voltage performance.
"The design of a low-voltage processor in 28nm requires a
system-level approach – from optimizing the circuit styles and
memories to the development of a custom low-voltage timing flow,"
said Anantha Chandrakasan,
MIT professor and pioneer in the area
of low-power design. "This chip demonstrates an aggressive
low-power methodology to ensure robust low-voltage and
ultra-low-power operation for a smartphone application
processor."
TI's 0.6 V ULP DSP presented in this paper was designed by a
team of MIT students and TI engineers,
and is an extension of a long-standing joint relationship on low
power and ultra-low power research.
"This is an excellent example of the results that come from a
long and fruitful collaboration between a university and
corporation such as MIT and Texas
Instruments," said Gene Frantz,
Principal Fellow at TI. "The students benefit by demonstrating
their innovations on complex, DSPs with several million transistors
made in state-of-the-art CMOS. TI and its customers benefit from
early access to the students' innovations."
For more information on TI's wireless solutions, visit
www.ti.com/issccpr-lp; or learn more about TI's advanced CMOS
development by visiting www.ti.com/issccpr-cmos.
About Texas Instruments
Texas Instruments (NYSE: TXN) helps customers solve problems and
develop new electronics that make the world smarter, healthier,
safer, greener and more fun. A global semiconductor company, TI
innovates through manufacturing, design and sales operations in
more than 30 countries. For more information, go to www.ti.com.
Trademarks
OMAP is a trademark of Texas Instruments Inc. All other
registered trademarks and trademarks belong to their respective
owners.
TXN-C
SOURCE Texas Instruments Incorporated