Dynamic SVL and body bias for low leakage power and high performance in CMOS digital circuits

In this article, a new complementary metal oxide semiconductor design scheme called dynamic self-controllable voltage level (DSVL) is proposed. In the proposed scheme, leakage power is controlled by dynamically disconnecting supply to inactive blocks and adjusting body bias to further limit leakage and to maintain performance. Leakage power measurements at 1.8?V, 75°C demonstrate power reduction by 59.4% in case of 1?bit full adder and by 43.0% in case of a chain of four inverters using SVL circuit as a power switch. Furthermore, we achieve leakage power reduction by 94.7% in case of 1?bit full adder and by 91.8% in case of a chain of four inverters using dynamic body bias. The forward body bias of 0.45?V applied in active mode improves the maximum operating frequency by 16% in case of 1?bit full adder and 5.55% in case of a chain of inverters. Analysis shows that additional benefits of using the DSVL and body bias include high performance, low leakage power consumption in sleep mode, single threshold implementation and state retention even in standby mode.