Minima Processor Wiki

Minima Processor, with headquarters in Finland, provides near-threshold voltage design solutions that employ dynamic margining and ultra-wide dynamic voltage and frequency scaling (DVFS) to minimize energy consumption in system-on-chip (SoC) designs. The Minima margining approach is a unique intellectual-property (IP)-based methodology for near-threshold voltage design that combines hardware and software to enable circuits to function at their lowest possible power for any given task, data or ambient condition. Founded in 2016 by seasoned technical and R&D professionals with expertise in energy-efficiency technology, it is privately held and funded by Lifeline Ventures, VTT Ventures, CFT Nordic Investment Center and angel investors. Minima is a founding member of the RISC-V Foundation.

Minima Dynamic Margining Solution Achieves the Energy Optimum across Use Cases

• Run each use case / SW task at optimum operating point (Voltage & Frequency)
• Seamless, real-time switch between operating points (Ultra-Wide Frequency Scaling)
• Minimum energy operation for each operating point across PVT variance (Process, Voltage, Temperature)
• Ultra-wide voltage scaling down to near/sub-threshold voltages

• Up to Order of Magnitude Energy Reduction

Minima Vertical (HW + SW) IP Solution for System-on-Chip Semiconductors

• In-situ monitoring and control IP
• UW-DVFS Task/Driver for SW interface, OS integration example
• Optimization, customer application analysis and system optimization
• Implementation, monitor placement, design optimization

Leadership

Tuomas Hollman, MSc, MBA – CEO and co-founder of Minima Processor
Tuomas is an experienced senior executive, with proficiency that ranges from strategy to product development and business management. Tuomas began his semiconductor industry career at Texas Instruments, serving for 15 years in increasingly important roles, including general management and profit and loss responsibility for multiple product lines. From Texas Instruments, Tuomas joined Exar Corporation as division vice president of power management and lighting with oversight of strategy, product development and marketing. Tuomas joined Minima Processor from MaxLinear, through its acquisition of Exar Corporation, where he continued to lead the power management and lighting products. Tuomas holds a Master of Science degree in Microelectronics Design from Helsinki University of Technology and a Master of Science degree in Economics and Business Administration from the Helsinki School of Economics, both in Finland.

Lauri Koskinen, PhD – CTO and co-founder of Minima Processor

Lauri brings broad design expertise to Minima ranging from ultra-low-power aspects of deep submicron transistors, up to the high-level realization of various systems (microcontrollers, deep learning, wireless biomedical sensors, audio and video coders). Lauri has 1 granted and 6 pending patents for the technology behind the Minima solution, and he is an author or co-author of 50+ papers in international conferences and journals. In his academic career, Lauri is an Adjunct Professor at the University of Turku, and he received a prestigious Fulbright Finland ASLA grant in the IC/Electronics field for a one year post-doctoral visit to the UC Berkeley Wireless Research Center.