A Closed-Form Expression for Minimum Operating Voltage of CMOS D Flip-Flop
[/vc_column_text][vc_column_text] Abstract:
In this paper, a closed-form expression for estimating the minimum operating voltage (VDDmin) of D flip-flops (FFs) is proposed. VDDmin is defined as the minimum supply voltage at which the FFs are functional without errors. The proposed expression indicates that VDDmin of FFs is a linear function of the square root of logarithm of the number of FFs, and its slope depends on the within-die variation of the threshold voltage (VTH) and its intercept depends on the balance between PMOS and NMOS, which is mainly due to the die-to-die VTH variation. The proposed expression of VDDmin is validated by the simulation results as well as the silicon measurements. Finally, we discuss the dependence of VDDmin on the device parameters.
