Clock power minimization with regular physical placement of clock repeater components
US8010926B2 · kind B2 · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Jan 30, 2008 |
| Grant date | Aug 30, 2011 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | May 22, 2030 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC G)Physics
- CPC primaryG06F30/394
- WIPO fieldComputer technology
- WIPO sectorElectrical engineering
Abstract
Power, routability and electromigration have become crucial issues in modern microprocessor designs. In high performance designs, clocks are the highest consumer of power. Arranging clocking components with regularity so as to minimize the capacitance on the clock nets can help reduce clock power, however, it may hurt performance due to some loss of flexibility in physically placing those components. The present invention provides techniques to optimally place clock components in a regular fashion so as to minimize clock power within a performance constraint. A rectangular grid is created and clock distribution structures are assigned to the grid intersection points. Latches are then located around the clock distribution structures to minimize an overall distance for connections between the latches and respective clock distribution structures. The horizontal and vertical pitches of the grid may be independently adjusted to achieve a more uniform spread of the clock distribution structures.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.