Semiconductor manufacturer STMicroelectronics today announced it is taking a leadership role in a new European Integrated Project called CLEAN (Controlling Leakage power in NanoCMOS SoCs). The three-year research project, co-funded by the European Commission, aims to extend battery life and reduce the power consumed by electronics. The project will seek to find solutions to control leakage currents in CMOS designs below 65 nm.
According to STMicroelectronics, the importance of reducing leakage currents has grown tremendously with the development of devices manufactured using 65 nm-and-below features. Leakage currents, the company says, are acknowledged by circuit designers as the primary hurdle for future generations of electronic circuits and systems, especially if the industry cannot find proper counter-measures.
Within the CLEAN project, STMicroelectronics will manage and coordinate all of the activities of a consortium of 14 European partners. It will also oversee the mobilization of the resources neccessary to the project's objectives.
"The CLEAN project will help overcome the technological shortcomings on the 65 nm-and-below technology nodes, in particular leakage currents, process variability, and unreliability," said the project's leader Roberto Zafalon, R&D program manager of advanced system technology at STMicroelectronics. "The project's outcome will allow the decrease of power consumption in next- generation devices and, at the same time, increase design productivity, thus improving the manageability of the additional complexity of these devices."
The CLEAN project's results are expected to span different aspects of low- leakage design. According to STMicroelectronics, the project is expected to advance the European nanoelectronics industry in different business sectors, such as consumer electronics and EDA tools.