1. SCALING ENERGY PER OPERATION VIA AN
ASYNCHRONOUS PIPELINE
ABSTRACT:
Statistical analysis of computations per unit energy in processors over the last 30
years is given that illustrates a sharp reduction in the rate of energy efficiency improvements
over the last several years resulting in the formation of an asymptotic “wall” with our dataset;
we use the measure of giga multiply accumulates per Joule. We have developed an energy
model which takes into account the realities of scaling, specifically for asynchronous
systems. Studies of an energy efficient asynchronous pipeline show fabricated results of 17
Giga Operations per Joule in 0.6 μm at sub-threshold when fully pipelined, and simulations at
a more modern 65 nm process show a further order of magnitude improvement on that.