Appeal No. 2000-0452
Application No. 08/622,389
According to appellants, the invention is directed to a
circuit, and a microcomputer including the circuit, by
controlling power consumption of a semiconductor device by
controlling the subthreshold leakage current in response to the
frequency of a reference signal. The subthreshold leakage
current is controlled by controlling the threshold voltage of
transistors of the semiconductor device.
The following claim is illustrative of the invention:
1. A semiconductor integrated circuit comprising:
a logic circuit which implements a certain logical
processing, the logic circuit including a unit logic
circuit having two inputs and one output;
a control circuit which controls the threshold
voltage of transistors that constitute said logic
circuit; and
a first circuit whose delay characteristics can be
controlled,
said transistors of said logic circuit comprising
MIS transistors, said first circuit delivering an
output signal to said control circuit which also
receives a reference signal, said control circuit
producing a first and second control signals
correspondent with said reference signal, said first
control signal being fed to said first circuit, and
said second control signal being fed to said MIS
transistors of said logic circuit so as to vary power
consumption and operation speed of said logic circuit
in response to a frequency of said reference signal.
2
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