AC-1: a clock-powered microprocessor

Abstract

We describe the design of AC-1, a low-power 16-bit microprocessor which utilizes clock-powered logic to reduce dissipation in its power-intensive sections. We present power measurements for a 0.5-/spl mu/m n-well CMOS implementation. A resonant clock driver recovers and reuses energy that would otherwise be dissipated as heat, yielding measured overall power reduction factors of four to five.