CSR---EHS: Non-volatile Carbon Nanotube RAM based FPGA Architectures

新兴的纳米器件，如碳纳米管，已被认为是非常有前途的未来技术规模。 最近的一项创新使得基于纳米管的非易失性随机存取存储器（NRAM）的制造成为可能，该存储器有望成为通用存储器。NRAM适用于独立和嵌入式存储器应用，并使用传统的光刻兼容制造工艺制造。 NRAM的速度和密度比DRAM快得多，功耗比DRAM或闪存低得多，速度与SRAM相似，并且对环境力（温度，磁性）具有很强的抵抗力。本项目的目的是探索基于NRAM的一类可编程计算机架构，称为现场可编程门阵列（FPGA）家族。PI小组在此类FPGA上的初步工作表明，与传统FPGA相比，使用细粒度时序逻辑折叠的新概念，该项目的目标包括NRAM的设计空间探索，基于FPGA的空间，使用参数化技术映射和时序逻辑折叠工具，该工具采用电路的混合寄存器传输/门级描述，并将其映射到基于NRAM的FPGA系列实例。 这项研究还将探讨这种FPGA的适用性，以计算单元集成存储器的内存密集型多媒体应用。拟议的工作将使一个良好的特点和高度通用的家庭基于NRAM的FPGA和相关的映射器/文件夹提供给业界。该材料将被列入一个新的高级课程设计与纳米技术。 本科生有望参与这项研究。 女性和少数民族学生将通过普林斯顿大学的总统奖学金计划被吸引到这项研究中。

Emerging nanodevices, such as carbon nanotubes, have been recognized as very promising for future technology scaling. A recent innovation has enabled the fabrication of nanotube-based non-volatile random-access memory (NRAM) that has the promise to become a universal memory. NRAMs are suitable for both standalone and embedded memory applications and are fabricated using traditional lithography-compatible manufacturing processes. An NRAM is considerably faster and denser than DRAM, has much lower power consumption than DRAM or flash, has similar speed to SRAM and is highly resistant to environmental forces (temperature, magnetism).The aim of this project is to explore an NRAM-based class of programmable computer architectures, known as a field-programmable gate array (FPGA) family. Initial work in the PI's group on such FPGAs has shown the feasibility of increasing the logic density by over an order of magnitude compared to traditional FPGAs, using the novel concept of fine-grain temporal logic folding, which makes cycle-by-cycle dynamic reconfiguration feasible.The objectives of this project include design space exploration of the NRAM-based FPGA space using a parameterized technology mapping and temporal logic folding tool that takes a mixed register-transfer/gate level description of a circuit and maps it to an NRAM-based FPGA family instance. The research will also explore the applicability of such FPGAs to computation-unit integrated memories for memory-intensive multimedia applications.The proposed work will make a well-characterized and highly versatile family of NRAM-based FPGAs and associated mapper/folder available to industry. The material will be included in a new senior-level course on Design with Nanotechnologies. Undergraduate students are expected to participate in this research. Female and minority students will be attracted to this research through Princeton's Presidential Fellowship Program.