Asynchronous logic : a promising design alternative

International audience ; Despite the recommendations of several Roadmaps published a few years ago, asynchronous circuits are only very recently becoming an industrial/commercial reality. The semiconductor industry is starting to give a serious consideration to the introduction of asynchronous technology into products and design flows. The goal of the talk is to introduce asynchronous circuits and systems. An overview of the design and application of asynchronous circuits is proposed, illustrated with the latest chips and systems designed. In an introductive part, it is shown how asynchronous circuits differ from synchronous circuits. Section one presents the basics of asynchronous logics and their design. The main classes of asynchronous circuits are derived and compared. In section two, the main potentials and properties of asynchronous circuits are described. They are illustrated with circuits and systems drawn from both academic and industrial works. Finally, the tools available today to design asynchronous circuits are presented and compared.