A 1-V PROGRAMMABLE DSP FOR WIRELESS COMMUNICATIONS

In an effort to extend battery life, the manufacturers of portable con sumer electronics are continually driving down the supply voltages of their systems, For example, next-generation cellular phones are expect ed to utilize a 1-V power supply for their digital components, To addr ess this market, an energy-efficient, programmable digital signal proc essing (DSP) chip that operates from a 1-V supply has been designed, f abricated, and tested, The DSP features an instruction set and micro a rchitecture that are specifically targeted at wireless communication a pplications and that have been carefully optimized to minimize power c onsumption without sacrificing performance. The design utilizes a 0.35 -mu m dual-V-t technology with 0.25-mu m minimum gate lengths that ena bles good performance at 1 V, Specifically, the chip dissipates 17 mW at 1 V, achieving 63-MHz operation with a power-performance metric of 0.21 mW/MHz.