CAREER: Reconfigurable Memory for Efficient, Secure, Robust Digital Systems

现代数字系统的存储层次结构正迅速成为其性能、效率、可靠性和成本的主要决定因素。片上系统和微处理器中集成的芯片上存储器的数量已经显著增长，并可能在未来几代芯片领域占据主导地位。计算机体系结构的趋势正在增加对存储系统提出要求的请求者的数量和类型，而IC制造和工艺规模的趋势正在使高效、健壮的存储器的设计和制造变得更加困难。为了应对这些趋势，该项目探索在电路、微体系结构和体系结构级别增加存储系统的可重构性，以提高设计的效率和健壮性。它还探索了如何通过隐藏设计意图并使用定制的存储系统实现高效的加密实施，来利用可重构性来增强设计的安全性。通过可重构性定制存储器系统以适应应用的效率和安全性的提高超过了增加可重构性的VLSI开销的情况将被研究。还将研究如何利用可重构性通过允许存储器适应制造时和部署后发生的工艺、电压和温度变化以及掩模故障来提高数字IC的健壮性和成品率。总而言之，这个项目应该会产生以高效、安全、健壮、通用计算系统为目标的可重构存储器解决方案，并了解整个可重构存储器设计空间。

The memory hierarchy of modern digital systems is quickly becoming the preeminent determinant of their performance, efficiency, reliability, and cost. The amount of memory integrated on-die in systems-on-chip and microprocessors has grown significantly and will likely dominate the die area in future generations. Trends in computer architecture are increasing the number and type of requestors making demands on the memory system, yet trends in IC manufacturing and process scaling are making the design and manufacture of efficient, robust memories more difficult. To address these trends, this project explores adding reconfigurability to the memory system at the circuit, microarchitecture, and architecture levels to boost the efficiency and robustness of the design. It also explores how reconfigurability can also be used to enhance the security of the design by obscuring the design intention and enabling efficient encryption implementations with a customized memory system. The conditions under which the increase in efficiency and security from tailoring the memory system to the application via reconfigurability outweighs the VLSI overheads of adding that reconfigurability will be investigated. How reconfigurability can be used to increase the robustness and yield of digital ICs by allowing the memory to adapt to process, voltage, and temperature variations and mask faults occurring at manufacture-time and after deployment will also be investigated. In summary, this project should result in reconfigurable memory solutions targeted at efficient, secure, robust, general-purpose computing systems and an understanding of the overall reconfigurable memory design space.