Resonant clock mega-mesh for the IBM z13TM
David Shan, Phillip J. Restle, D. W. Malone, Rob Groves, Eric Lai, Michael Koch, Jason D. Hibbeler, Yong Soo Kim, Christos Vezyrtzis, Jan Feder, David Hogenmiller, Thomas J. Bucelot · 2015
The IBM z13TMmicroprocessor utilizes a large resonant “mega-mesh” global clock distribution saving 50% of the final-stage clock mesh power and 8% of the total chip power in the desired frequency range of 4.5 to 5.5 GHz compared to a simulated, non-resonant base-line design. The mega-mesh is driven by pulsed buffers. Measurement of the mega-mesh's robustness is enabled by skew gradients created by programmable delays. The design is implemented in IBM's high-performance 22nm high-k CMOS SOI technology with 17 metal layers [1].