Eliminating Standby Power Consumption

Both Rohm and NEC are focused on unveiling new chip designs for integrated circuits that would consume no standby power. Integrated circuits are briefly inactive in between cycles on chips, and the new chip designs take into account that not all parts of the circuit require constantly receiving full power. In an attempt to curtail this leakage power that is consumed by an IC,  the companies have implemented “power gating” in the new designs. “Power gating” is a method of turning off individual circuits on a chip that do not need power. NEC plans to release a prototype by the end of 2009, but Rohm, Inc. hopes its chip will be in consumer products within the same time frame. Popular Science Magazine writes, “The new chip designs differ [from current IC chips] in that they don’t require the inactive portions of the circuit to receive full power at all times, allowing for more efficiency both during use and in a traditional ‘standby mode’.” It is predicted that the new designs’ efficient energy usage will help decrease overall power consumption and could improve efficiency  within a device.

From Tech On!:

Erika Swanson