Geared to the needs of engineers and designers in the field, this unique volume presents a remarkably detailed analysis of one of the hottest and most compelling research topics in microelectronics today - namely, low-voltage CMOS VLSI circuit techniques for VLSI systems. It features complete guidelines to diversified low-voltage and low-power circuit techniques, emphasizing the role of submicron and CMOS processing technology and device modeling in the circuit designs of low-voltage CMOS VLSI.

Based on the work of MIT graduate students Alice Wang and Benton Calhoun, this book surveys the field of sub-threshold and low-voltage design and explores such aspects of sub-threshold circuit design as modeling, logic and memory circuit design. One important chapter of the book is dedicated to optimizing energy dissipation - a key metric for energy constrained designs. This book also includes invited chapters on the subject of analog sub-threshold circuits.

1. 1 Power-dissipation trends in CMOS circuits Shrinking device geometry, growing chip area and increased data-processing speed performance are technological trends in the integrated circuit industry to enlarge chip functionality. Already in 1965 Gordon Moore predicted that the total number of devices on a chip would double every year until the 1970s and every 24 months in the 1980s. This prediction is widely known as "Moore's Law" and eventually culminated in the Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA) technology road map [1]. The SIA road map has been a guide for the in dustry leading them to continued wafer and die size growth, increased transistor density and operating frequencies, and defect density reduction. To mention a few numbers; the die size increased 7% per year, the smallest feature sizes decreased 30% and the operating frequencies doubled every two years. As a consequence of these trends both the number of transistors and the power dissi pation per unit area increase. In the near future the maximum power dissipation per unit area will be reached. Down-scaling of the supply voltage is not only the most effective way to reduce power dissipation in general it also is a necessary precondition to ensure device reliability by reducing electrical fields and device temperature, to prevent device degradation. A draw-back of this solution is an increased signal propa gation delay, which results in a lower data-processing speed performance.

Low-Voltage CMOS Log Companding Analog Design presents in detail state-of-the-art analog circuit techniques for the very low-voltage and low-power design of systems-on-chip in CMOS technologies. The proposed strategy is mainly based on two bases: the Instantaneous Log Companding Theory, and the MOSFET operating in the subthreshold region. The former allows inner compression of the voltage dynamic-range for very low-voltage operation, while the latter is compatible with CMOS technologies and suitable for low-power circuits. The required background on the specific modeling of the MOS transistor for Companding is supplied at the beginning. Following this general approach, a complete set of CMOS basic building blocks is proposed and analyzed for a wide variety of analog signal processing. In particular, the covered areas include: amplification and AGC, arbitrary filtering, PTAT generation, and pulse duration modulation (PDM). For each topic, several case studies are considered to illustrate the design methodology. Also, integrated examples in 1.2um and 0.35um CMOS technologies are reported to verify the good agreement between design equations and experimental data. The resulting analog circuit topologies exhibit very low-voltage (i.e. 1V) and low-power (few tenths of uA) capabilities. Apart from these specific design examples, a real industrial application in the field of hearing aids is also presented as the main demonstrator of all the proposed basic building blocks. This system-on-chip exhibits true 1V operation, high flexibility through digital programmability and very low-power consumption (about 300uA including the Class-D amplifier). As a result, the reported ASIC can meet the specifications of a complete family of common hearing aid models. In conclusion, this book is addressed to both industry ASIC designers who can apply its contents to the synthesis of very low-power systems-on-chip in standard CMOS technologies, as well as to the teachers of modern circuit design in electronic engineering.

A practical overview of CMOS circuit design, this book covers the technology, analysis, and design techniques of voltage reference circuits. The design requirements covered follow modern CMOS processes, with an emphasis on low power, low voltage, and low temperature coefficient voltage reference design. Dedicating a chapter to each stage of the design process, the authors have organized the content to give readers the tools they need to implement the technologies themselves. Readers will gain an understanding of device characteristics, the practical considerations behind circuit topology, and potential problems with each type of circuit. Many design examples are used throughout, most of which have been tested with silicon implementation or employed in real-world products. This ensures that the material presented relevant to both students studying the topic as well as readers requiring a practical viewpoint. Covers CMOS voltage reference circuit design, from the basics through to advanced topics Provides an overview of basic device physics and different building blocks of voltage reference designs Features real-world examples based on actual silicon implementation Includes analytical exercises, simulation exercises, and silicon layout exercises, giving readers guidance and design layout experience for voltage reference circuits Solution manual available to instructors from the book’s companion website This book is highly useful for graduate students in VLSI design, as well as practicing analog engineers and IC design professionals. Advanced undergraduates preparing for further study in VLSI will also find this book a helpful companion text.

Low-Power Digital VLSI Design: Circuits and Systems addresses both process technologies and device modeling. Power dissipation in CMOS circuits, several practical circuit examples, and low-power techniques are discussed. Low-voltage issues for digital CMOS and BiCMOS circuits are emphasized. The book also provides an extensive study of advanced CMOS subsystem design. A low-power design methodology is presented with various power minimization techniques at the circuit, logic, architecture and algorithm levels. Features: Low-voltage CMOS device modeling, technology files, design rules Switching activity concept, low-power guidelines to engineering practice Pass-transistor logic families Power dissipation of I/O circuits Multi- and low-VT CMOS logic, static power reduction circuit techniques State of the art design of low-voltage BiCMOS and CMOS circuits Low-power techniques in CMOS SRAMS and DRAMS Low-power on-chip voltage down converter design Numerous advanced CMOS subsystems (e.g. adders, multipliers, data path, memories, regular structures, phase-locked loops) with several design options trading power, delay and area Low-power design methodology, power estimation techniques Power reduction techniques at the logic, architecture and algorithm levels More than 190 circuits explained at the transistor level.