Philips peddles its “clock-less” chip technology to universities

Philips is seeking to boost adoption of its clock-less integrated circuit technology, offering it at a knockdown price to universities and research institutions.

The hope is that the technology will be incorporated into computer engineering courses, producing graduates with skills in this hitherto overlooked area of chip design

On the face of it, self-timing circuitry that does not need a clock and the associated architecture to control it is an attractive proposition. Clock-less, or self timing, integrated circuits consume less power and generate smaller electromagnetic fields, reducing the risk of interference with sensitive circuitry and making it easier to integrate into larger designs.

But rather than flowing on from what has gone before, this is a disruptive technology. The clock has long been central to the design of integrated circuits, and it is difficult to get clock-less technology adopted because you have to give up so much of what went before.

This is as true for Philips as for other parts of the electronics sector, and the clock-less technology is corralled currently in the company’s technology incubator, in a business unit called Handshake Solutions.

The clock-less design tools were released to commercial customers at the beginning of 2004. A Philips spokesman says the move to give access to universities is in response to a demand from the electronics industry for engineers that know how to handle clock-less design.

The Eindhoven University of Technology, and the universities of Manchester (UK), Turku (Finland) and Southern California are to evaluate the tools, and the accompanying design language called Haste.

“It may be standard industry practice to offer software to universities at low cost. But what this says is that universities see the strengths of the technology and want to integrate it,” said the spokesman.