Aging Benefits in Nanometer CMOS Designs

In this work, using SPICE simulation (Figure 1) we showed that BTI aging comes together with considerable benefits for static power consumption, due to subthreshold leakage current reduction. Indeed, static power consumption reduces by more than 50% after only one year of operation, by more than 74% after 5 years (Figure 2). Static power reduction approaches 80% over 10 years of operation. Also, we show that the dynamic power consumed by an inverter is slightly affected by BTI aging with a 3% reduction after 10 years of operation (Figure 3), a variation that can be attributed to short circuit power reduction. BTI aging beneficial effect on power consumption is also proved with experimental measurements (Figure 4). As a result, CMOS designs become more energy efficient over time, and this beneficial effect is expected to increase for more scaled technologies. Hence at the design phase, this reduction must be taken into account to carry out a proper power and thermal analysis. 

 

Publications

Rossi, DanieleTenentes, VasileiosYang, ShengKhursheed, Saqib and Al-Hashimi, Bashir (2016) Aging Benefits in Nanometer CMOS Designs. accepted at IEEE Transactions on Circuits and Systems II (TCAS-II)1-10.