IEC 61523-4:2015

Design and Verification of Low-Power Integrated Circuits

IEC 61523-4:2015(E) establishes a format used to define the low-power design intent for electronic systems and electronic intellectual property (IP). The format provides the ability to specify the supply network, switches, isolation, retention, and other aspects relevant to power management of an electronic system. The standard defines the relationship between the low-power design specification and the logic design specification captured via other formats [e.g., standard hardware description languages (HDLs)].

General Information

• Status: Published
• Publication Date: 10-Mar-2015
• ICS: 01 - GENERALITIES. TERMINOLOGY. STANDARDIZATION. DOCUMENTATION
• ICS: 25.040.01 - Industrial automation systems in general
• ICS: 35.060 - Languages used in information technology
• Technical Committee: TC 91 - Electronics assembly technology
• Current Stage: PPUB - Publication issued
• Start Date: 11-Mar-2015
• Completion Date: 11-Mar-2015

Standards Content (sample)

IEC 61523-4
Edition 1.0 2015-03
IEEE Std 1801™-2013
INTERNATIONAL
STANDARD
Design and Verification of Low-Power Integrated Circuits
IEC 61523-4:2015-03(en) IEEE Std 1801-2013
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IEC 61523-4
Edition 1.0 2015-03
IEEE Std 1801™-2013
INTERNATIONAL
STANDARD
Design and Verification of Low-Power Integrated Circuits
INTERNATIONAL
ELECTROTECHNICAL
COMMISSION
ICS 25.040; 35.060 ISBN 978-2-8322-2266-9

Warning! Make sure that you obtained this publication from an authorized distributor.

® Registered trademark of the International Electrotechnical Commission
---------------------- Page: 3 ----------------------
IEC 61523-4
i IEEE Std 1801-2013
Contents

1. Overview.............................................................................................................................................. 1

1.1 Scope.......................................................................................................................................... 1

1.2 Purpose....................................................................................................................................... 1

1.3 Key characteristics of the Unified Power Format...................................................................... 1

1.4 Use of color in this standard ...................................................................................................... 3

1.5 Contents of this standard............................................................................................................ 3

2. Normative references........................................................................................................................... 4

3. Definitions, acronyms, and abbreviations............................................................................................ 4

3.1 Definitions ................................................................................................................................. 4

3.2 Acronyms and abbreviations ..................................................................................................... 9

4. UPF concepts ..................................................................................................................................... 11

4.1 Design structure ....................................................................................................................... 11

4.2 Design representation .............................................................................................................. 11

4.3 Power architecture ................................................................................................................... 14

4.4 Power distribution.................................................................................................................... 17

4.5 Power management.................................................................................................................. 23

4.6 Power states ............................................................................................................................. 26

4.7 Simstates .................................................................................................................................. 29

4.8 Successive refinement.............................................................................................................. 30

4.9 Tool flow.................................................................................................................................. 31

4.10 File structure ............................................................................................................................ 32

5. Language basics................................................................................................................................. 33

5.1 UPF is Tcl ................................................................................................................................ 33

5.2 Conventions used..................................................................................................................... 33

5.3 Lexical elements ...................................................................................................................... 34

5.4 Boolean expressions ................................................................................................................ 37

5.5 Object declaration .................................................................................................................... 39

5.6 Attributes of objects................................................................................................................. 40

5.7 Power state name spaces.......................................................................................................... 43

5.8 Precedence ............................................................................................................................... 44

5.9 Generic UPF command semantics........................................................................................... 45

5.10 effective_element_list semantics ............................................................................................. 45

5.11 Command refinement .............................................................................................................. 48

5.12 Error handling .......................................................................................................................... 49

5.13 Units......................................................................................................................................... 50

6. Power intent commands..................................................................................................................... 51

6.1 Categories ................................................................................................................................ 51

6.2 add_domain_elements [deprecated] ........................................................................................ 51

..... 52

6.3 add_port_state [legacy] ......................................................................................................

6.4 add_power_state ..................................................................................................................... 52

6.5 add_pst_state [legacy] ............................................................................................................. 57

6.6 apply_power_model................................................................................................................. 58

6.7 associate_supply_set ............................................................................................................... 59

Published by IEC under license from IEEE. © 2013 IEEE. All rights reserved.
Copyright © 2013 IEEE. All rights reserved.
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IEC 61523-4
IEEE Std 1801-2013 ii

6.8 begin_power_model ................................................................................................................ 60

6.9 bind_checker ........................................................................................................................... 61

6.10 connect_logic_net ................................................................................................................... 63

6.11 connect_supply_net ................................................................................................................ 64

6.12 connect_supply_set ................................................................................................................. 65

6.13 create_composite_domain ...................................................................................................... 67

6.14 create_hdl2upf_vct .................................................................................................................. 68

6.15 create_logic_net ...................................................................................................................... 69

6.16 create_logic_port .................................................................................................................... 70

6.17 create_power_domain ............................................................................................................. 71

6.18 create_power_switch .............................................................................................................. 74

6.19 create_pst [legacy] .................................................................................................................. 80

6.20 create_supply_net ................................................................................................................... 80

6.21 create_supply_port .................................................................................................................. 83

6.22 create_supply_set .................................................................................................................... 84

6.23 create_upf2hdl_vct .................................................................................................................. 85

6.24 describe_state_transition ......................................................................................................... 86

6.25 end_power_model.................................................................................................................... 87

6.26 find_objects ............................................................................................................................. 88

6.27 load_simstate_behavior .......................................................................................................... 90

6.28 load_upf .................................................................................................................................. 91

6.29 load_upf_protected ................................................................................................................. 92

6.30 map_isolation_cell [deprecated] .............................................................................................. 93

6.31 map_level_shifter_cell [deprecated]........................................................................................ 93

6.32 map_power_switch ................................................................................................................. 93

6.33 map_retention_cell .................................................................................................................. 94

6.34 merge_power_domains [deprecated]....................................................................................... 97

6.35 name_format ........................................................................................................................... 98

6.36 save_upf .................................................................................................................................. 99

6.37 set_design_attributes ............................................................................................................. 100

6.38 set_design_top ...................................................................................................................... 101

6.39 set_domain_supply_net [legacy] .......................................................................................... 101

6.40 set_equivalent ....................................................................................................................... 102

6.41 set_isolation .......................................................................................................................... 104

6.42 set_isolation_control [deprecated]......................................................................................... 110

6.43 set_level_shifter .................................................................................................................... 111

6.44 set_partial_on_translation ..................................................................................................... 116

6.45 set_pin_related_supply [deprecated] ..................................................................................... 116

6.46 set_port_attributes ................................................................................................................. 117

6.47 set_power_switch [deprecated].............................................................................................. 121

6.48 set_repeater ........................................................................................................................... 121

6.49 set_retention .......................................................................................................................... 124

6.50 set_retention_control [deprecated] ........................................................................................ 128

6.51 set_retention_elements .......................................................................................................... 128

6.52 set_scope ............................................................................................................................... 129

6.53 set_simstate_behavior ........................................................................................................... 130

6.54 upf_version ........................................................................................................................... 131

6.55 use_interface_cell ................................................................................................................. 132

7. Power management cell commands................................................................................................. 135

7.1 Introduction............................................................................................................................ 135

7.2 define_always_on_cell........................................................................................................... 136

7.3 define_diode_clamp............................................................................................................... 137

xii
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Copyright © 2013 IEEE. All rights reserved.
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IEC 61523-4
iii IEEE Std 1801-2013

7.4 define_isolation_cell.............................................................................................................. 138

7.5 define_level_shifter_cell........................................................................................................ 141

7.6 define_power_switch_cell .....................................................................................................145

7.7 define_retention_cell ............................................................................................................. 147

8. UPF processing ................................................................................................................................ 150

8.1 Overview................................................................................................................................ 150

8.2 Data requirements .................................................................................................................. 150

8.3 Processing phases .................................................................................................................. 150

8.4 Error checking........................................................................................................................ 153

9. Simulation semantics ....................................................................................................................... 154

9.1 Supply network creation ........................................................................................................ 154

9.2 Supply network simulation ....................................................................................................155

9.3 Power state simulation ........................................................................................................... 157

9.4 Simstate simulation................................................................................................................ 159

9.5 Transitioning from one simstate state to another................................................................... 161

9.6 Simulation of retention .......................................................................................................... 162

9.7 Simulation of isolation........................................................................................................... 168

9.8 Simulation of level-shifting ................................................................................................... 168

9.9 Simulation of repeater............................................................................................................ 168

Annex A (informative) Bibliography .......................................................................................................... 169

Annex B (normative) HDL package UPF.................................................................................................... 170

Annex C (normative) Queries...................................................................................................................... 182

Annex D (informative) Replacing deprecated and legacy commands and options..................................... 219

Annex E (informative) Low-power design methodology............................................................................ 227

Annex F (normative) Value conversion tables ............................................................................................ 252

Annex G (normative) Supporting hard IP.................................................................................................... 255

Annex H (normative) UPF power-management commands semantics and Liberty mappings................... 258

Annex I (informative) Power-management cell modeling examples .......................................................... 273

Annex J (informative) Switching Activity Interchange Format .................................................................. 303

Annex K(informative) IEEE List of Participants..........................................................................................333

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IEC 61523-4
IEEE Std 1801-2013 iv
xiv
Published by IEC under license from IEEE. © 2013 IEEE. All rights reserved.
Copyright © 2013 IEEE. All rights reserved.
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IEC 61523-4
v IEEE Std 1801-2013
DESIGN AND
VERIFICATION OF
LOW-POWER INTEGRATED CIRCUITS
FOREWORD

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IEC 61523-4
IEEE Std 1801-2013 vi

International Standard IEC 61523-4/IEEE Std 1801-2013 has been processed through IEC

technical committee 91: Electronics assembly technology, under the IEC/IEEE Dual Logo

Agreement.
The text of this standard is based on the following documents:
IEEE Std FDIS Report on voting
1801 (2013) 91/1209/FDIS 91/1228/RVD

Full information on the voting for the approval of this standard can be found in the report on

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IEC 61523-4
vii IEEE Std 1801-2013
IEEE Std 1801™-2013
(Revision of
IEEE Std 1801-2009)
IEEE Standard for Design and
Verification of
Low-Power Integrated Circuits
Sponsor
Design Automation Committee
of the
IEEE Computer Society
and the
IEEE Standards Association Corporate Advisory Group
Approved 6 March 2013
IEEE-SA Standards Board
Published by IEC under license from IEEE. © 2013 IEEE. All rights reserved.
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IEC 61523-4
IEEE Std 1801-2013 viii

Grateful acknowledgment is made to the following for permission to use source material:

Accellera Systems Initiative
Unified Power Format (UPF) Standard, Version 1.0
Cadence Design Systems, Inc.
Library Cell Modeling Guide Using CPF
Hierarchical Power Intent Modeling Guide Using CPF
Silicon Integration Initiative, Inc.
Si2 Common Power Format Specification, Version 2.0

Abstract: A method is provided for specifying power intent for an electronic design, for use in

verification of the structure and behavior of the design in the context of a given power management

architecture, and for driving implementation o
...