A 280mV-to-1.2V wide-operating-range IA-32 processor in 32nm CMOS

Abstract

Near-threshold computing brings the promise of an order of magnitude improvement in energy efficiency over the current generation of microprocessors [1]. However, frequency degradation due to aggressive voltage scaling may not be acceptable across all single-threaded or performance-constrained applications. Enabling the processor to operate over a wide voltage range helps to achieve best possible energy efficiency while satisfying varying performance demands of the applications. This paper describes an IA-32 processor fabricated in 32nm CMOS technology [2], demonstrating a reliable ultra-low voltage operation and energy efficient performance across the wide voltage range from 280mV to 1.2V.