Reduction of Static Power Consumption in VLSI Devices and Systems
Power consumption is just a topic of major debate nowadays, be it at a grand level like in Big Industrial application or at small level like in Electronic Circuits. Now per day virtually all the electronics devices contains VLSI chip(s). VLSI plays a critical role in today’s day-to-day life of global citizen.
With the technical advancements in the VLSI technology, technology node & hence circuit size keeps on shrinking. With smaller technology nodes, power consumption becomes an important parameter in any VLSI design. Smaller technology nodes, while helps in attaining a lowered foot print of the system, results in increased power consumption in certain chip.
Any VLSI designer would know canaan avalonminer 1246 there are two types of power consumption in any Chip. One could be the static power (leakage) & other one could be the dynamic power (switching & short-circuit).
Dynamic power gets consumed whenever chip does its defined function(s). However Static power consumption happens irrespectively of chip doing any useful functions.
Lower the static power consumption of the chip, better it is from power point of view.
Various techniques may be adopted to lower the static power consumption in any given design to execute certain group of functionality.
1. No over use of technology:- If the given functionality isn’t demanding use of the most recent (smaller) technology node, the more suitable technology node should be properly used to satisfy the design needs. Remember, smaller the technology node, higher could be the static power consumption.
2. Operating at lower temperature:- As temperature of the VLSI chip increases, static power consumption increases (due to higher leakage current). Hence in any system design, VLSI chips must be operated at lower temperature & not near the maximum temperature specified by the Chip vendor. Perfect case is to operate the chip at near the ambient temperature, wherever possible. Various thermal techniques in the system design may be adopted to attain this.
3. Power shut a block: In case a block isn’t needed for certain operation and for certain time period, it must be power down to save lots of static power as well as dynamic power. Achieving this operation adds some logic overhead & some complexity to the chip in design & layout, however it will most likely payoff over the whole life span of the system in terms of power saving & increased reliability (because of less heat generation because of shutting the block when not in use), if justified by target volumes of the Chip.
Exception to this is those blocks which needs to be operated more often and turning off & bringing it up may require complex protocols & training sequences etc. to be run for every such operation.
Every one of the above techniques are based on the usages of the VLSI technology & Chips. With your techniques static power consumption may be reduced significantly. Less power requirement might help in using smaller battery for portable device applications. These techniques might also end in reduced device cost.
MS Windows os’s permit you to set various power options. These options ensure it is easy to store power following a certain period of inactivity. You might produce a few profiles that first switch automatically your computer into Standby mode and then before long into Hibernate mode if no activity. To create a Power Profile in Windows XP, go to “Start” menu, “Control Panel”, then “Power Options” ;.First, if you are likely to use Hibernate mode, you need to activate it. Go to Hibernate tab-page and check box “Enable hibernation” ;.This can produce a special file called “hiberfil.sys” where in fact the data from RAM and other info is likely to be saved.
Notebooks have extra settings associated with using battery. Also on notebook computers, you are able to significantly extend the battery life by setting the “When I close the lid on my portable computer” choice to “Stand by” (“Advanced” tab). Note, you are able to switch also anytime to Standby or Hibernate mode manually. Go to “Start”, and then “Turn Off Computer” ;.You ought to see dialog with “Stand by” button. If you press and keep consitently the Shift key, “Stand by” button changes to “Hibernate” ;.But do not forget, to be able to see and use Hibernate option, it needs to be enabled – Hibernate does not show by default.
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