Reducing Subthreshold Leakage Power Through Hybrid MOSFET-NEMS Power Gating
dc.contributor.author | Kindel, David Garret | en |
dc.contributor.committeechair | Nazhandali, Leyla | en |
dc.contributor.committeemember | Feng, Wu-chun | en |
dc.contributor.committeemember | Hsiao, Michael S. | en |
dc.contributor.department | Electrical and Computer Engineering | en |
dc.date.accessioned | 2016-09-02T08:00:51Z | en |
dc.date.available | 2016-09-02T08:00:51Z | en |
dc.date.issued | 2016-09-01 | en |
dc.description.abstract | Modern devices such as smartphones and smartwatches spend a large amount of their life idle, waiting for external events. During this time, they are expending energy, using up battery life. Increasing power consumption is a rising concern to users and researchers alike. Power gating, turning off a blocks of hardware when idle, reduces static power consumption. The Metal-Oxide-Semiconductor Field-Effect Transistors (MOSFETs) currently employed in processors leak current. Even in power gated circuits, MOSFET power gating may only save between 60-80% of power. A different type of switch, a Nanoelectromechanical Systems (NEMS) switch, presents an air gap between the source and drain while in the off state, eliminating subthreshold leakage current. The NEMS switch is slower to operate and only has a finite number of switching before breaking. They should be switched with caution. Proposed in this thesis is a hybrid power gating model wherein a MOSFET is placed in series with a NEMS switch. Power gating the Floating Point Unit (FPU) of a processor is studied through the use of modern open source computer architecture simulators. Each switch type is used to model power gating to observe energy savings and performance costs. The hybrid power gating model is more flexible across a variety of applications. Energy savings are comparable to single NEMS switch power gating for applications with low FPU activity. Any performance loss remains low, matching that of MOSFETs. Processor electrical costs are heavily reduced while devices remain operating at a near-optimal speed. | en |
dc.description.abstractgeneral | Modern devices such as smartphones and smartwatches spend a large amount of their life idle, waiting for external input. During this time, they are expending energy, using up battery life. The transistors that are inside of them, the minuscule electronics that make these devices work, are not perfect and “leak” current even when not in use. Another type of switch, a mechanical one, has been under development over the last decade. This mechanical switch is slower to operate and is not as reliable as current transistors yet yields a complete disconnection when turned off. Thus, no energy is wasted when a device is sitting idle. While this saves more energy, using a mechanical switch also has the potential to degrade a device’s performance due to its slow operation. In this thesis, the effectiveness of combining the two types of transistors into one process is analyzed. The fast switching times of the currently used transistors can be used in situations where it is difficult to determine whether shutting down a piece of hardware is a good decision. If it has been determined that the circuit may be put to sleep for a long amount of time, the slower but more energy efficient mechanical switch may be used. With this hybrid operation, each transistor is only used in a mode that suits them most appropriately. | en |
dc.description.degree | Master of Science | en |
dc.format.medium | ETD | en |
dc.identifier.other | vt_gsexam:7944 | en |
dc.identifier.uri | http://hdl.handle.net/10919/72871 | en |
dc.publisher | Virginia Tech | en |
dc.rights | In Copyright | en |
dc.rights.uri | http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/ | en |
dc.subject | NEMS | en |
dc.subject | Power Gating | en |
dc.subject | Low Power | en |
dc.subject | Simulator | en |
dc.subject | Computer Architecture | en |
dc.title | Reducing Subthreshold Leakage Power Through Hybrid MOSFET-NEMS Power Gating | en |
dc.type | Thesis | en |
thesis.degree.discipline | Computer Engineering | en |
thesis.degree.grantor | Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University | en |
thesis.degree.level | masters | en |
thesis.degree.name | Master of Science | en |
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