An Asynchronous Cell Library for Self-Timed System Designs (Special Issue on Asynchronous Circuit and System Design)

概要

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The performance of synchronous VLSI system is limited by the speed of the global clock which is further constrained by the clock skew. Self-timed design technique, based on the Muller model, improves performance by eliminating the global clock. In order to prevent hazard, a self-timed system should satisfy certain assumptions and timing constraints, therefore special cells are required. The novel Self-timed Cell Library is designed for 1.2μm CMOS technology which contains Muller C-elements, DCVSL circuits, latches and delay elements. It is very useful because: (1) It avoids any possible violations of the assumptions and timing constraints since all cells are custom designed; (2) It provides a fast and reliable model for self-timed system verification using either SPICE simulator or Verilog^<[◯!R]> simulator; (3) It is flexible since it is compatible with an existing Standard Cell Library. In this paper, the library is described. Moreover, the simulated and measured cell characteristics are compared. Using the library, two [1×8]×[8×1] matrix multipliers employing (1) DCVSL technique, and (2) micropipeline technique have been implemented as design examples and the results are compared. In addition, this paper also demonstrates the benefits of custom-layouted C-elements and a new way to realize delay element for micropipeline. The last but not least, two new HCCs are also proposed.
社団法人電子情報通信学会の論文
1997-03-25