Standby power reduction techniques for ultra-low power processors

Standby power can dominate the power budgets of battery-operated ultra-low power processors, and reducing standby power is the key challenge for further power reduction. State-of-the-art ultra low voltage sensors consume hundreds of nW in wake mode and 100 pW or less in standby mode. Therefore, applying known circuit techniques for further standby power reduction is very challenging. In this paper, we extend known standby power reduction techniques for use in ultra-low power processors. In particular, we propose structures that enable the use of super cut-off voltages throughout the design with minimal power overhead. Different strategies for power gated logic blocks and memory cells are investigated.