Front-end Design Tools:Power-Related Tools

Power-Related Tools

Luigi:

Yes, there are many. And more problems arise as the semiconductor technology keeps shrinking. Power is a good example.

Power Estimation Tools

Luigi:

Front-end designers use power calculation tools to estimate the power. Too much power will overheat the chip—we need to be sure we stay within the power budget early in the design. (Power is checked again in the back-end.)

Also, power is a major trade-off factor with speed—faster transistors tend to use more power.

Nora:

How about portable things such as my cell phone?

Low-Power Design Tools

Luigi:

Portable personal electronics is a growing area. Battery life is critical in most of these products and is a major selling feature. Therefore, low power is now a primary design focus.

Control of the consumed power is achieved by many different design techniques. We have approaches at all levels of design (system, logic, circuit, transistor, and process).

There are EDA tools to help achieve low-power designs. For example, they reduce clock frequencies and identify when logic blocks can be turned off.

Nora:

How do we get from the front-end tools to the back-end tools?

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