Asynchronous vs. Synchronous Microporcessors

A circuit’s clock is often the single largest source of power dissipation is a digital system. Removing the clock should therefore reduce power consumption. The clock also forces the system to run at the worst case timing for every operation. Removing it should also allow the circuit to start the next operation upon completion of the current one. This is often the key motivation for designing asynchronous circuits. The problem is, once the circuit has been designed and fabricated the circuit may not realize the promised benefits. This paper attempts to analyze why this may occur, and what benefit asynchronous circuits have beyond power and speed as it specifically applies to microprocessors.