Clock Network Optimization With Multibit Flip-Flop Generation Considering Multicorner Multimode Timing Constraint

Abstract

Clock network should be optimized to reduce clock power dissipation. The power efficient clock network can be constructed by multibit flip-flop generation and gated clock tree aware flip-flop clumping to pull flip-flops close to the same integrated clock gating cell. It is capable of providing an attractive solution to reduce clock power. This paper considers multicorner and multimode timing constraints for the two combined approach. This proposed method is applied to five industrial digital intellectual property blocks of state-of-the-art mobile system-on-a-chip fabricated in 14-nm CMOS process. Experimental results show that MBFF generation algorithm achieves 22% clock power reduction. Applying a gated clock tree aware flip-flop clumping on top of the MBFF generation further reduces the power to around 32%.