Energy-aware current-mode inter-chip link for a dependable GALS NoC platform

An inter-chip communication link with high-speed and low-energy capabilities is proposed for a dependable globally-asynchronous-locally-synchronous (GALS) network-on-chip (NoC) platform. The use of a dynamic current feedback mechanism in the link makes a current driving capability high and a signal voltage swing small, which accelerates the switching speed. The power-gating technique is also applied to greatly reduce the power dissipation since the inter-chip communication links are supposed to have long idle time in the dependable GALS NoC platform. It is demonstrated that the proposed circuit with a 1cm transmission line achieves the transmission rate of 2.8Gbps while consuming 1.1uW in a 130nm CMOS technology at the power supply of 1.2V.