Power and thermal challenges in mobile devices

In spite of significant advances in the development of low-power designs and power management techniques, power remains and will remain a first-class design constraint for mobile devices. The functionality integrated into mobile devices will only continue to grow with the increasing transition from PCs to super-phones. Power remains one of the critical hurdles to this transition, and without continued innovations in power management, the term "mobile" devices will be rendered moot. In addition to (and closely related to) power challenges in mobile devices are thermal challenges. Increasingly complex and rich functionality in mobile devices leads to higher power dissipation, and consequently, higher temperatures. However, thermal constraints are constant across successive device generations. Thermal limits, even more than power, will become the fundamental bottleneck to increasing the capabilities of such devices, making thermal management techniques crucial. This paper discusses some of the major challenges in power management and thermal management for current and next-generation mobile devices from a semiconductor industry perspective. Specifically, this paper discusses challenges in three areas: process-variability-aware power management, thermally aware power management and thermal management for mobile devices. Broadcom mobile chipsets feature multiple such advanced power and thermal management techniques, with active on-going research and development in each of these areas.