Information Theoretic and Probabilistic Measures for Power Analysis of Digital Circuits

ii To my family iii Acknowledgments I would like to thank my advisor, Professor Massoud Pedram, for his continuous support, guidance and encouragement throughout the process of working towards my Ph.D. degree. I am deeply grateful for his support in difficult moments and for being not only my advisor, but also a friend. Special thanks to his wife, Afsane, who always encouraged me during my last years as a doctoral student. Many thanks to Professors Melvin Breuer and Michael Arbib for serving in my thesis committee and for giving me key advice during my last year as a doctoral student. I would also like to thank my colleagues in the Low Power CAD group at USC, especially Chi-Ying Tsui and Chih-Shun Ding for interesting and stimulating discussions. Also, I cannot omit from my acknowledgment list the people who guided and influenced my career even before it started: my elementary school teacher Veronica Marinescu, who introduced me to the wonderful world of mathematics; from " Politehnica " University of Bucharest, Professors Octavian Stanasila and Paul Flondor of the Department of Mathematics who were my mathematics mentors during my college years; Professor Cristian Giumale of the Department of Computer Science who taught me how to be a good computer scientist; and my Master's thesis advisor, Professor Irina Athanasiu of the Department of Computer Science, who encouraged me to pursue an academic career. Last, but not least, I would like to thank to the ones without whom this would have never been possible, my family: especially to my husband Radu and my son Andrei, for helping me and being a constant and loving support in every difficult moment, and to my parents Gina and Adrian, and my sister Daniela for encouraging me and believing in me.