Chipress

Unified Power Format (UPF), is a set of Tcl-like commands used to define the low-power design intent for SoCs. Using UPF commands, you will be able to specify supply networks, power switches, isolation, retention, and other aspects relevant to power management of a chip design.

One of the recommended readings for learning UPF, is “Synopsys Low-Power Flow User Guide”. In particular, the following chapters of the User Guide are a good start:

1. Chapter 1: Low-Power Design Strategies. This chapter introduces power basics as well as power reduction strategies
2. Chapter 3: Power Intent Specification. This chapter introduces UPF concepts and syntax
3. Chapter 4: UPF Script Examples. This chapter demonstrates a few UPF examples for quick ramp up

In addition, the User Guide can serve as a quick reference for your real work.

The other recommended reading for UPF, is the IEEE tutorial “Using UPF for Low Power Design and Verification”. This tutorial has a much more in-depth discussion on UPF, and provides more examples of real-life designs. In addition, it provides a few practical recommendations for adopting UPF into SoC implementation flows.

Lastly, the following diagram “Multi-Voltage Special Cell Requirement” from the IEEE tutorial “Using UPF for Low Power Design and Verification” is quite useful. It summarizes the low power strategies for multi-voltage design.

References:

1. https://www.accellera.org/images/resources/videos/UPF_for_Low_Power_2014.pdf
2. https://picture.iczhiku.com/resource/eetop/wYIEdthEzTAOEVmc.pdf