Performance-Driven Energy-Efficient VLSI

To my family and friends for their love and support ii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS First and foremost I offer my sincerest gratitude to my advisor, Prof. Marios Papaefthymiou, who has supported me throughout my thesis with his patience and knowledge while allowing me the room to work in my own way. I would also like to thank all the other committee members, Prof. Dennis Sylvester, Prof. Zhengya Zhang, and Prof. Jerome Lynch, providing valuable feedback and support. I want to thank Jerry Kao, who as a good friend and group mate of mine as always willing to help and give his best suggestions. It would have been a lonely office without him. Many thanks to Visvesh, Carlos, Yu-Shiang, Juang-Ying, and Tai-Chuan for sharing their time and expertise. Thanks to the program coordinator Beth Stalnaker and the ACAL/DCO staffs: Denise, Bert, Lauri, Steve, Ed, and Joel for their immense help. Finally, I would like to thank my parents. They are always supporting me an