Power Forward Initiative (PFI) Community

Design Guide

A Practical Guide to Low Power Design

To succeed in low-power design it is important to leverage the experience, know-how, and best practices of those that have successfully taped-out their designs. With this in mind, the Power Forward Initiative (PFI) has published “A Practical Guide to Low Power Design” that captures the collective experience of 36 industry-leading companies. Over the last few years, the PFI members have initiated low-power projects that validated design flows using the Cadence® Low-Power Solution with complex designs and power intent. “A Practical Guide to Low-Power Design” has been published to showcase this collective effort; the Guide details low-power challenges, techniques, design methodology, and design team experiences - including how to speed your designs to market. As new designs are completed, new chapters in low-power design will be written and added to the guide.

The complete guide (ZIP) or individual chapters (PDF) can be downloaded here.  Note that these downloads are accessible by PFI site members only.  Sign in or Join now.

  • Complete Guide
  • Practical Guide to Low-Power Design
  • Chapter 1
  • Introduction to Low Power
      Foreword
      Preface
      Acknowledgements
      References and Bibliography
      Low-Power Links
         - Power Forward Initiative
         - Cadence Low-Power Links
      CPF Terminology Glossary
         - Design Objects
         - CPF Objects
       Special Library Cells for Power Management
       Low Power Today
       Power Management
       Complete Low-Power RTL-to-GDSII Flow Using CPF
       A Holistic Approach to Low-Power Intent
       Verification of Low-Power Intent with CPF
       Power Intent Validation
       Low-Power Verification
       CPF Verification Summary
  • Front-End Design with CPF
        Architectural Exploration
        Synthesis Low-Power Optimization
        Automated Power Reduction in Synthesis
        CPF-Powered Reduction in Synthesis
        Simulation for Power Estimation CPF Synthesis Summary
  • Power-Aware Design for Test (DFT)
        Power Domain-Aware DFT
        Power-Aware Test
        CPF Test Summary
  • Low-Power Implementation with CPF
        Introduction to Low-Power Implementation
        Gate-Level Optimization in Power-Aware Physical Synthesis
        Clock Gating in Power-Aware Physical Synthesis
        Multi-Vth Optimization in Power-Aware Physical Synthesis
        Multiple Supply Voltage (MSV) in Power-Aware Physical Synthesis
        Power Shut-Off (PSO) in Power-Aware Physical Synthesis
        Dynamic Voltage/Frequency Scaling (DVFS) Implementation
        Substrate Biasing Implementation
        Diffusion Biasing
        CPF Implementation Summary
  • Chapter 2
  • ARC Energy PRO: Technology for Active Power Management
       Low Power Today
       Power Management
       Overview of ARC Energy PRO
       The Power Struggle
       Designing Low-Power Solutions
       Project Subsystem: ARC CPU with Co-Processor
       Conclusion
  • Chapter 3
  • NEC Electronics: Integrating Power Awareness in SoC Design with CPF
       Overview of ARC Energy PRO
        NEC Electronics and CPF
        Why Low Power?
        Comprehensive Approach to Low Power
        Example of Mobile Phone System SoC
        NEC Electronics CPF Proof-Point Project: NEC-PPP
        Summary
  • Chapter 4
  • Fujitsu: CPF in the Low-Power Design Reference Flow
       Fujitsu and CPF
        Low-Power Design Techniques Used by Fujitsu
        Low-Power Test Chip Developed with CPF
        Low-Power Design Flow with CPF
        Review of Low-Power Test Chip Design
        Fujitsu Reference Design Flow 3.0: Low Power with CPF
        Fujitsu's CPF Low-Power RDF Methodology
        Summary
  • Chapter 5
  • NXP User Experience: Complex SoC Implementation with CPF
       Low Power is Critical to NXP
        CPF in Action on a Complex SoC Platform
        Power Network Intent
        Hierarchical Support for IP and Design Reuse
        Scalable Implementation
        DFT Impact
        CPF-Based Results
  • Chapter 6
  • Freescale: Wireless Low-Power Design and Verification with CPF
       Business Implications of Power
        Wireless Carriers and Power
        Phone Power and Energy
        Active Power Challenge and Design Techniques
        Low-Power Design Methodology and CPF
        Mobile Application Power Reduction Results
        Summary
  • Chapter 7
  • TSMC: Advanced Design for Low Power at 65nm and Below
       TSMC 65nm Low-Power Process
        Low-Power Design Techniques
        CPF: The Low-Power Standard
        The TSMC Proof-Point Project
        CPF-Based TSMC Reference Flow 9.0.
        TSMC Low-Power Library: CPF Compliant
        Summary
  • Chapter 8
  • ARM: 1176 IEM Reference Methodology
        Introduction
        ARM-Cadence Implementation Reference Methodologies
        ARM1176 Processor
        ARM1176JZF-S Low-Power Reference Methodology
        Conclusion
  • Chapter 9
  • Faraday: CPF-Based Low-Power Design Methodology for Platform-Based SoCs
        Faraday Design Services and Low-Power Design
        Introduction
        Faraday CPF Flow
        Faraday So Compiler CPF-Enabled Platform-Based Design for Low-Power
        A Low-Power Platform-Based Design Example
        Faraday CPF Low-Power SoCompiler Design Methodology Summary
  • Chapter 10
  • Sequence Design: Early Power Analysis with CPF
        Faraday Design Services and Low-Power Design
        Design for Power
        Nano CPU Design Overview
        Conclusions
  • Chapter 11
  • ARM Cortex iRM: CPF-Driven Low-Power Functionality in a High-Performance Design Flow
        ARM and Cadence Collaboration
        iRM Flow Setups: Adding Low-Power Functionality to a High-Performance Design Flow
        Other Low-Power Functionality Additions to a High-Performance Design Flow
        Conclusions and Availability of ARM/Cadence iRMs
  • Chapter 12
  • When Do You Know You Have Saved Enough Power?
       Impact of Low-Power Design
        Power Dissipation
        Static Power Optimization
        Static Power Optimization
        Dynamic Power Optimization
        ARM Intelligent Energy Manager™(IEM)
        Power Savings in Multicore Processors
        Conclusions
  • Chapter 13
  • AMD: Power Gating in a High-Performance GPU
       Impact of Low-Power Design
        AMD and Low Power
        Front-End Low-Power Logical Design/Verification Flow and Methodology
        Back-End Low-Power Physical Design/Verification Flow and Methodology
        CPF and Results
        Summary of Results
  • Chapter 14
  • ARM 1176-JZFS CPU-Based Low-Power Subsystem: Methodology to Reduce Electrical and Functional Failure in a Low-Power Design
       Abstract Overview of Ulterior Project
        Ulterior Implementation
        Assembly and Packaging
        Ulterior Implementation Results
  • Chapter 15
  • Sonics: CPF Flow for Highly-Configurable On-Chip Network
       Overview
       Sonics Power Management Features
       CPF Generation and Automation
       Sample SoC Design
       Sonics CPF-based Low-Power Flow
       Low-Power Reference Flow and Tools
       Conclusion
  • Chapter 16
  • Virage Logic: Minimizing Design Complexity with Power-Optimized Physical IP
       Overview
       Virage Logic's IP Portfolio
        Economics of Battery Life
        Economics of IC Cooling
        Low-Power Design Solutions
        Virage Logic Power-Optimization Kit: Standard Cell Set
        Standard Cells in the Power Optimization Kit
        Creating Top-Level Power Domains
        Using Library CPF for Level Shifters, Retention Flops and Power Switches
        40nm SiWare Memory Performance/Power Tradeoffs for Bank and Column Mux
        Summary
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