Events Calendar

Demystifying Ultra-Low Power VLSI Design: from Basic Misconceptions to Advanced Techniques

Speaker: Massimo Alioto, University of Siena (Italy), UC Berkeley

Talk Title: Demystifying Ultra-Low Power VLSI Design: from Basic Misconceptions to Advanced Techniques

Abstract: In this seminar, basic concepts and advanced techniques for ultra-low power (ULP) VLSI digital circuits and systems are presented, with emphasis on the related opportunities and challenges. Common misconceptions and incorrect beliefs are thoroughly discussed based on a coherent and fresh perspective. Variation-aware design strategies to reduce the minimum operating voltage and enable robust ULV operation are discussed. The dependence of the minimum energy point on design knobs is discussed at various levels of abstraction (from physical to the micro-architecture level), and yield is explicitly considered as further dimension in the design space. The important (and often overlooked) role played by the minimum operating voltage is clarified, along with its relation with the optimal voltage minimizing energy, which is currently the subject of a controversial debate within the scientific community.
New directions and on-going work to address various issues in extreme ULP systems will be presented. In particular, innovative highly-efficient “smart” on-chip DC-DC converters will be presented, and alternative logic styles will be introduced to demonstrate pW/gate operation.


Biography: Massimo Alioto (M’01–SM’07) is with the Department of Information Engineering of the University of Siena since 2002, where he became Associate Professor in 2005. In 2007, he was a Visiting Professor at EPFL - Lausanne (Switzerland). In 2009-2011, he is Visiting Professor at BWRC – UCBerkeley, investigating on next-generation ultra-low power circuits and wireless nodes. He has authored or co-authored more than 160 publications on journals (55+, mostly IEEE Transactions) and conference proceedings. He is an IEEE Senior Member, Chair of the “VLSI Systems and Applications” Technical Committee of the IEEE CASS, and he was IEEE CASS Distinguished Lecturer in 2009-2010. He serves as Track Chair for several conferences (ISCAS, ICCD, ICECS, ICM) and as Associate Editor of several journals (including the IEEE Transactions on VLSI Systems). He was Technical Program Chair for the conference ICM 2010.

Host: Massoud Pedram

Location: Grace Ford Salvatori Hall Of Letters, Arts & Sciences (GFS) - 118

Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

Contact: Annie Yu