Power Consumption

Abstract

Digital circuits consume power whenever they perform computations. They draw current from a power supply and then dissipate the received energy as heat. The power consumption of digital circuits is a very important topic. The power consumption determines whether a chip needs to be cooled or not, it determines which kind of power supply is necessary and, in case of cryptographic devices, it determines whether a device can be attacked or not. Obviously, this is the most important property of the power consumption in the context of this book.