Circuits for high-performance low-power VLSI logic

Abstract

The demands of future computing, as well as the challenges of nanometer-era VLSI design, require new digital logic techniques and styles that are simultaneously high performance, energy efficient, and robust to noise and variation. We propose a new family of logic styles called Preset Skewed Static Logic (PSSL). PSSL bridges the gap between the two main logic styles, static CMOS logic and domino logic, occupying an intermediate region in the energy-delay-robustness space between the two. PSSL is better than domino in terms of energy and robustness, and is better than static CMOS in terms of delay. PSSL works by partially overlapping the execution of consecutive iterations through speculative evaluation. This is accomplished by presetting nodes at register boundaries before input arrival.