Video decoders play a very important role in the TV receivers. This is especially true for NTSC-based TVs. The design and implementation of the video decoder with two-line delay comb filter are presented. Moreover, the works includes the low-power SRAM (static random access memory) in the comb filter for storing scanning line data and the low-power small-area I/O cells for transmitting digital data. A digital phase lock loop (PLL) in the proposed video decoder uses a ROM-less 4£c-based direct digital frequency synthesizer (DDFS)-based digital control oscillator to resolve the false locking problem. Two 20-tap transposed FIRs (finite-duration impulse response filter) are used to implement the low pass filters (LPF) in the chrominance demodulator. Besides, the unnecessary decimals of the coefficients of the LPF are truncated to reduce hardware cost. The proposed SRAM takes advantage of a negative word-line voltage controlling the access transistors of the memory cell to reduce the leakage current in the standby mode. Besides, a memory bank partition scheme and a clock gating scheme are also used to save more power. Finally, a fully different concept from current I/O designs is proposed. The novel I/O cell takes advantage of reducing output voltage swing as well as transistors with different threshold voltages such that the area and power consumption of overall chip can be drastically reduced.

This thesis includes two topics. The first topic is a data dispatcher design of a digital image processor for plasma display panels, which can be used in a 42-inch plasma display panel (PDP). The second one is a low-power small-area digital I/O cell design. The data dispatcher is applied to a 42-inch panel, which is produced by AUO corporation, as a test platform. It comprises FPGAs and RAMs to carry out data dispatching. The solution is verified to provide a better image quality, while the cost is also reduced. Regarding the low-power small-area digital I/O cell, we propose a totally different concept in contrast to traditional I/O cells. It is focused on low power consumption and small area. The proposed design is carried out by TSMC 1P5M 0.25 mm CMOS process at 2.5 V power supply. The power consumption is measured to be at least 51.4% less than prior works. The area is proven to be at least 44% more efficient.