Clocking strategies and scannable latches for low power applications

Abstract

This paper covers a range of issues in the design of clocking schemes for low-power applications. First we revisit, extend and improve the power-performance optimization methodology for latches, attempting to make it more formal and comprehensive. Data switching factor and the glitching activity are taken into consideration, using a formal analytical approach, then a notion of energy-efficient family of configurations is introduced to make the comparison of different latch styles in the power-performance space more fair, also the power of the clock distribution is taken into account. Practical issues of building a low overhead scan mechanism are considered, and the power overhead of the scannable design is analyzed, A low-power LSSD extension to single-phase latches is proposed, and results of a comparative study of LSSD-scannable latches are shown, supported by experimental data measured on a 0.18μ test chip.