A 40nm CMOS, 1.27nJ, 330mV, 600kHz, Bose Chaudhuri Hocquenghem 252 bits frame decoder

Abstract

Following the will to answer to the energy constrained applications requirements, an Ultra-Low Voltage (ULV) 40nm Bose-Chaudhuri-Hocquenghem (BCH) error-correcting circuit is presented. Mapped on a ULV specific standard cells library, the circuit was designed following standard industrial implementation and verification flows. The BCH circuit runs at 0.330V, 600kHz frequency and needs 1.27nJ to decode a 252bits frame. With 14% of extra power compared to typical process, applying forward bias enables to compensate temperature and skewed process effects, regaining 150mV minimum operating voltage.