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Lookup NU author(s): Dr Danil Sokolov, Dr Victor Khomenko, Dr Andrey Mokhov, Vladimir Dubikhin, Professor Alex Yakovlev
This is the authors' accepted manuscript of an article that has been published in its final definitive form by IEEE, 2019.
For re-use rights please refer to the publisher's terms and conditions.
Analog and mixed signal (AMS) electronics becomes increasingly complex and needs to be digitally enhanced by its own control circuitry. The RTL synthesis flow routinely used for digital logic is however optimized for synchronous data processing and produces inefficient control for AMS. In this paper we demonstrate the evident benefits of asynchronous circuits in the context of AMS systems, and propose an asynchronous design for analog electronics (A4A) flow for their specification, synthesis, and formal verification. A library of specialized analog-to-asynchronous (A2A) components is developed for interfacing analog and asynchronous worlds. A4A flow is automated in the Workcraft framework and evaluated using a multiphase buck converter case study where A2A components are employed to sanitise analog sensor readings. Timing analysis of asynchronous buck control shows improved response time: 4x faster reaction to high-load and 7x to under-voltage condition, compared with a 333MHz clocked controller (to achieve a similar response time, a clocked controller would require ~3GHz frequency). The simulation results of a 4-phase asynchronous buck demonstrate improved voltage ripple and peak current – 16% and 12% reduction, respectively. These benefits lead to the higher efficiency of power conversion, and can be traded off for the cost of analog components, e.g. coils. Moreover, the use of the proposed design flow and tools helps to improve design productivity and overall robustness of AMS circuits.
Author(s): Sokolov D, Khomenko V, Mokhov A, Dubikhin V, Lloyd D, Yakovlev A
Publication type: Article
Publication status: Published
Journal: IEEE Transactions on Computer-Aided Design of Integrated Circuits and Systems
Year: 2019
Volume: 39
Issue: 5
Pages: 952-965
Print publication date: 01/05/2020
Online publication date: 27/03/2019
Acceptance date: 24/02/2019
Date deposited: 08/03/2019
ISSN (print): 0278-0070
ISSN (electronic): 1937-4151
Publisher: IEEE
URL: https://doi.org/10.1109/TCAD.2019.2907905
DOI: 10.1109/TCAD.2019.2907905
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