A durable and energy efficient main memory using phase change memory technology
A durable and energy efficient main memory using phase change memory technology
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DOI：
10.1145/1555754.1555759
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发表时间：
2009-06
期刊：
影响因子：
--
通讯作者：
Ping Zhou;Bo Zhao;Jun Yang;Youtao Zhang
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Ping Zhou;Bo Zhao;Jun Yang;Youtao Zhang
由于非易失性存储器在存储单元中消耗零泄漏功率，因此已经研究了在存储器层级中使用非易失性存储器以降低其能量消耗。然而，困难之一是大多数非易失性存储器技术的耐久性比常规SRAM和DRAM技术短得多。这将其使用限制为仅存储器层次结构的低级别，例如，磁盘，这是远离CPU。在本文中，我们研究了使用一种新型的非易失性存储器-相变存储器（PCM）作为主存储器的三维堆叠芯片。与传统DRAM技术相比，我们面临的主要挑战是有限的PCM耐久性，更长的访问时间和更高的动态功率。我们提出的技术，以延长PCM的耐久性，平均为13（MLC PCM单元）至22（SLC PCM）年。我们还研究了实现PCM的设计选择，以实现能量和性能之间的最佳权衡。我们的设计减少了65%的总能量已经低功耗的DRAM主存储器的相同容量，和能量延迟2产品的60%。这些结果表明，在主存储器中使用PCM技术代替DRAM以获得更好的能量效率是可行的。
Using nonvolatile memories in memory hierarchy has been investigated to reduce its energy consumption because nonvolatile memories consume zero leakage power in memory cells. One of the difficulties is, however, that the endurance of most nonvolatile memory technologies is much shorter than the conventional SRAM and DRAM technology. This has limited its usage to only the low levels of a memory hierarchy, e.g., disks, that is far from the CPU. In this paper, we study the use of a new type of nonvolatile memories -- the Phase Change Memory (PCM) as the main memory for a 3D stacked chip. The main challenges we face are the limited PCM endurance, longer access latencies, and higher dynamic power compared to the conventional DRAM technology. We propose techniques to extend the endurance of the PCM to an average of 13 (for MLC PCM cell) to 22 (for SLC PCM) years. We also study the design choices of implementing PCM to achieve the best tradeoff between energy and performance. Our design reduced the total energy of an already low-power DRAM main memory of the same capacity by 65%, and energy-delay2 product by 60%. These results indicate that it is feasible to use PCM technology in place of DRAM in the main memory for better energy efficiency.