Adders:Carry Select Adder

Carry Select Adder

We can reduce the worst delay of a ripple carry adder by partitioning the adder into two blocks: one for higher bit positions and the other for lower bit positions. In the block for higher bit positions, we calculate two candidate sums in parallel, one assuming a carry input of 0 from the block for lower bit positions and the other assuming a carry input of 1, then we select the correct sum based on the actual carry output from the block for lower bit positions. When we partition the adder into two blocks of the same size, the delay becomes about half because the calculations in these two blocks are carried out concurrently. An adder based on this principle is called a carry select adder [1].

We can further reduce the delay by partitioning the adder into more blocks. Figure 41.13 shows a block diagram of a carry select adder. When all blocks are of the same size, k positions, the worst case occurs when a carry is generated at the least significant position and stops at the most significant position. The worst delay is the sum of the delay for rippling through k – 1 FAs, and the delay for n/k – 1 selectors. In the case that k is a constant independent of n, as well as in the case that k is proportional to n, the delay is proportional to n. We can reduce the worst delay to being proportional to n , by letting k be proportional to n . The amount of hardware is proportional to n in any case. It is to be noticed that a selector is unnecessary to the least significant few positions (probably less than k) in Figure 41.13 because it is known whether the carry-in is 0 or 1.

We can reduce the amount of hardware by calculating two candidate sums using only one adder in each block [19].

Applying the principle used to develop the carry select adder to each block, we can realize a two-level carry select adder. Recursive application of the principle yields a multi-level carry select adder. A conditional sum adder [16] can be regarded as the extreme case.

A carry select adder is used in a microprocessor with high performance [7].

Adders-0494

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