This paper describes a 0.25-mu m CMOS 0.9-V 100-MHz DSP core which is
composed of a 2-mW 16-b multiplier-accumulator and a 1.5-mW 8-kb SRAM.
High-speed operation with a supply of less then 1 V has been achieved
by developing 0.25-mu m CMOS technology, reducing threshold voltage t
o 0.3 V, developing tristate inverter 3-2/4-2 adders for the multiplie
r, realizing small bit-line swing operation for the SRAM, and so on. T
he adder circuits operate faster than conventional adders at low suppl
y voltages, In addition, short-circuit current and area for diffusion
contact are reduced, Small bit-line swing operation has been realized
by using a device-deviation immune sense amplifier, Leakage current du
ring sleep mode was reduced by the use of high threshold voltage MOSFE
T's.