Tom Starnes charts the course through today's design priorities and the technologies that pave the way. Semiconductor vendors face increasing demands to lower power consumption. This trend has intensified in the last couple of years with the rejuvenation of the 'green' movement. In response, the industry has been getting smarter about low-voltage design, current-saving techniques for both the circuit and process levels, and coordinated power management. Meanwhile, programmers are concentrating on energy conservation in how they use and implement features on systems, processors and other chips, while developing strategies for minimizing power in complex systems. The popular view is that the trend is mostly concerned with mobile devices. The number of applications in this market has exploded, they sell in very high volumes and battery technologies limit their active life. However, given growing concern for natural resources, low-power design is now a critical aspect of almost every conceivable end-market.
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