FPGA power reduction using configurable dual-Vdd

Power optimization is of growing importance for FPGAs in nanometer technologies. Considering dual-Vdd technique, we show that configurable power supply is required to obtain a satisfactory performance and power tradeoff. We design FPGA circuits and logic fabrics using configurable dualVdd and develop the corresponding CAD flow to leverage such circuits and logic fabrics. We then carry out a highly quantitative study using area, delay and power models obtained from detailed circuit design and SPICE simulation in 100nm technology. Compared to single-Vdd FPGAs with optimized Vdd level for the same target clock frequency, configurable dual-Vdd FPGAs with full and partial supply programmability for logic blocks reduce logic power by 35.46% and 28.62% respectively and reduce total FPGA power by 14.29% and 9.04% respectively. To the best of our knowledge, it is the first in-depth study on FPGAs with configurable dual-Vdd for power reduction. Categories and Subject Descriptors B.7.1 [Integrat...

• Type: Conference
• Year: 2004
• Where: DAC
• Authors: Fei Li, Yan Lin, Lei He
• Keywords: Configurable Dual-vdd Fpgas, Configurable Power Supply, DAC 2004, Design Automation, Total Fpga Power