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Instant Recovery Power Saving Mode

Conventional power saving modes turn off the power of a circuit block when the circuit block is not used. In such power saving modes, all the state nodes lose their data; complex initialization processes are required to bring the circuit back into operation, typically with very long recovery times. A circuit block can have thousands or millions of gates; when any gate is used, all the gates in the circuit block need to stay active. Even when all the gates are idle, we still need to make sure they will be idle for a long enough time to justify the energy overhead in order to go into conventional power saving mode. Bringing a circuit block back to work requires recharging the whole block, consuming significant energy. Conventional circuits are therefore not energy-efficient, even when they are controlled by conventional power management methods. Most circuits are consuming power the majority of the time, even when they are not doing work.

The UniRAM patented GreenMOS Hybrid Circuit, which provides proprietary “Instant Recovery Power Saving Mode”, sets CMOS circuits into a natural power saving state that consumes less than 1% of the standby power of conventional CMOS circuits. In Instant Recovery Power Saving Mode, state nodes maintain their data, and the circuit is ready to go back into action instantly; there is no need for complex recovery procedures. At active mode, GreenMOS_Hybrid circuits achieve the same performance and robustness of conventional CMOS circuits.

GreenMOS Hybrid Circuits are typically arranged in a “small block architecture” where an integrated circuit module is divided into a large number of small blocks.  A block of hybrid circuit stays in hybrid power saving mode when it is not doing work, and enters active mode the instant it needs to work.  With proper design, hybrid circuits consume less than 1% of active power as well as standby power relative to conventional CMOS circuits.  GreenMOS Hybrid Circuits are applicable to both core logic and embedded memory.

Hybrid RAM

Conventional RAM
  • All the transistors are leaking
  • Discharge the whole bank to read data
Hybrid RAM
  • Less than 1% standby leakage
  • Less than 1% active power
  • Small in area, faster in speed
  • Full compatible, easy to implement, reliable

Hybrid Logic

Activated Circuit <  1%
Faster and Smaller
Architecture Solution
 
Applications:

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