Title
Automating the Design of Asynchronous Logic Control for AMS Electronics
Abstract
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 sanitize analog sensor readings. Timing analysis of asynchronous buck control shows improved response time: <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$4\boldsymbol \times $ </tex-math></inline-formula> faster reaction to high-load and <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$7\boldsymbol \times $ </tex-math></inline-formula> to under-voltage condition, compared with a 333 MHz clocked controller (to achieve a similar response time, a clocked controller would require ~3 GHz 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.
Year
DOI
Venue
2020
10.1109/TCAD.2019.2907905
IEEE Transactions on Computer-Aided Design of Integrated Circuits and Systems
Keywords
DocType
Volume
Clocks,Synchronization,Buck converters,Reliability,MOSFET,Time factors,Logic gates
Journal
39
Issue
ISSN
Citations 
5
0278-0070
3
PageRank 
References 
Authors
0.80
0
6
Name
Order
Citations
PageRank
Danil Sokolov122727.50
victor khomenko2355.21
Andrey Mokhov313626.57
Vladimir Dubikhin461.86
David Lloyd5153.26
Alex Yakovlev651664.23