PROJECT TITLE:

Power Efficient Level Shifter for 16 nm FinFET Near Threshold Circuits - 2015

ABSTRACT:

Since the minimum feature size has shrunk beyond the sub-30-nm node, power density has become the major factor in modern microprocessors. Techniques such as dynamic voltage scaling operating down to near threshold voltage levels and supporting multiple voltage domains have become necessary to reduce dynamic as well as static power. A key component of these techniques is a level shifter that serves different voltage domains. This level shifter must be high speed and power efficient. The proposed level shifter translates voltages ranging from 250 to 790 mV, and exhibits 42% shorter delay, 45% lower energy consumption, and 48% lower static power dissipation. In addition, the proposed level shifter exhibits symmetric rise and fall transition times with up to 12% skew at the extreme conditions over the maximum range of voltages.