Collaborative Research: SHF: Small: RUI: CMOS+X: Honey-ReRAM Enabled 3D Neuromorphic Accelerator

当前的计算系统正面临着重大的挑战，包括极高的能量需求、不可再生材料的巨大消耗、电子废物造成的环境和健康问题，以及缺乏通过将互补金属氧化物半导体（CMOS）微芯片与新兴器件技术（表示为X）-“CMOS+X”集成来提高系统性能的技术。该项目将通过探索一种创新技术来解决这些挑战，将CMOS外围电路与一种新的存储器技术集成在一起-基于天然有机蜂蜜的阻变随机存取存储器（honey-ReRAM），用于一种新的脑启发神经形态计算系统。原型“CMOS + honey-ReRAM”计算系统有望为许多高影响力领域（如工程、社会科学、国家健康和国防）提升高性能、节能和可持续的内存计算能力。此外，拟议的教育活动为女性、非裔美国人和美洲原住民学生等代表性不足的研究人员提供了独特的培训机会。该项目旨在探索器件制造和系统集成技术的创新，以优化honey-ReRAM器件，建立CMOS电路与honey-ReRAM阵列的3D集成的可行性，并建立CMOS + honey-ReRAM启用的神经形态加速器原型，一个重要的神经网络硬件组件，用于计算和人工智能领域的各种设备中的数据处理。蜂蜜ReRAM将具有高度可再现的存储特性，热稳定性，长期可靠性，低成本以及可持续性。蜂蜜ReRAM还将采用环保的合成工艺和设备制造。将开发具有正式设计流程的新型三维（3D）架构和制造技术，以确保通过微芯片上的异构集成将CMOS电路与honey-ReRAM阵列相结合的兼容性。此外，该研究还将解决CMOS与X集成中的不兼容问题，有效地促进CMOS+X技术的发展和应用，以实现系统级的计算改进。该项目由计算和通信基金会（CCF）部门的软件和硬件基金会（SHF）计划以及刺激竞争研究的既定计划（EPSCoR）共同资助。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Current computing systems are facing significant challenges including extremely high energy demand, tremendous consumption of nonrenewable materials, environmental and health issues by electronic waste, and lack of technologies to improve system performance by integration of complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) microchips with emerging device technologies (denoted X) – “CMOS+X”. This project will address these challenges by exploring an innovative technology to integrate CMOS periphery circuits with a novel memory technology - natural organic honey based resistive switching random access memory (honey-ReRAM) for a new brain-inspired neuromorphic computing system. The prototyped “CMOS + honey-ReRAM” computing system is promising to promote high performance, energy efficient, and sustainable in-memory computing capability for many high impact domains such as engineering, social science, national health, and defense. In addition, the proposed education activities offer unique training opportunities for underrepresented researchers including female, African American, and Native American students.This project targets to explore innovations in device fabrication and system integration technologies to optimize honey-ReRAM devices, establish the feasibility of 3D integration of CMOS circuits with honey-ReRAM arrays, and prototype a CMOS + honey-ReRAM enabled neuromorphic accelerator, an essential neural network hardware component for data processing in a vast range of devices in computing and artificial intelligence. The honey-ReRAM will have highly reproducible memory characteristics, thermal stability, long-term reliability, low-cost, as well as being sustainable. The honey ReRAM will also utilize an eco-friendly synthesis process and device manufacture. A novel three-dimensional (3D) architecture and fabrication technology with a formal design flow will be developed to ensure the compatibility of combining CMOS circuitry with honey-ReRAM arrays by a heterogeneous integration on the microchip. Furthermore, this research will provide a solution to the incompatibility problem in the integration between CMOS and X and effectively accelerate the development and application of CMOS+X technologies for system-level improvements in computing. This project is jointly funded by the Software and Hardware Foundations (SHF) program in the Computing and Communication Foundations (CCF) division, and the Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR).This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.