A Compact Clock Generator for Heterogeneous GALS MPSoCs in 65-nm CMOS Technology

This paper presents an all-digital phase-locked loop (ADPLL) clock generator for globally asynchronous locally synchronous (GALS) multiprocessor systems-on-chip (MPSoCs). With its low power consumption of 2.7 mW and ultra small chip area of 0.0078 mm
²
it can be instantiated per core for fine-grained power management like DVFS. It is based on an ADPLL providing a multiphase clock signal from which core frequencies from 83 to 666 MHz with 50% duty cycle are generated by phase rotation and frequency division. The clock meets the specification for DDR2/DDR3 memory interfaces. Additionally, it provides a dedicated high-speed clock up to 4 GHz for serial network-on-chip data links. Core frequencies can be changed arbitrarily within one clock cycle for fast dynamic frequency scaling applications. The performance including statistical analysis of mismatch has been verified by a prototype in 65-nm CMOS technology.