On-chip magnetics for power management and delivery in multicore processors

这项研究的目标是开发一类新的片上电力电子电路，该电路将为未来的多核处理器实现高度细粒度的主动电源管理，允许在存在工作负载变化的情况下执行能量延迟权衡。该方法的基础是引入磁性材料作为标准CMOS线上的“后处理”。智力上的功绩。目前的实现采用片外、板级电压调节，并从片外引入独立的电源电压。这种方法不可扩展，需要以高比例的电压水平向芯片输送电力，从而导致不可持续的电流需求。我们具体介绍了无源磁性器件如何通过提供高密度片上能量存储来极大地改进片上电源管理和传输电路的设计。我们将创新新的磁性设备(电感和GMR传感器)，这些设备可以在传统的cmos工艺上实现。更广泛的影响。该项目将允许PI在一个真正的跨学科研究环境中培训研究生和本科生，该环境结合了物理学、纳米材料、电路设计和电力电子应用。这项研究工作还将在哥伦比亚大学开设一门关于电力电子的新课程，特别强调集成方法，弥合电力电子社区和传统集成电路设计社区之间的脱节。该计划将通过系统地培训积极性很高的高中生，并加强与当地K-12教育工作者的互动，为K-12教育的推广做出重大努力。

The objective of this research is to develop a new class of on-chip power electronics circuits that will enable highly granular, active power management for future multicore processors, allowing energy-delay trade-offs to be performed in the presence of workload variability. The approach is based on the introduction of magnetic materials as a "post-process" on a standard CMOS run. Intellectual Merit. Current implementations employ off-chip, board-level voltage regulation and bring in independent supply voltages from off-chip. Such approaches are not scalable and require that power be delivered to the chip at highly scaled voltage levels, leading to unsustainable current demands. We specifically address how passive magnetic devices can dramatically improve the design of on-chip power management and delivery circuits by providing for high density energy storage on-chip. We will innovate new magnetic devices (inductors and GMR sensors) that can be implemented on a conventional CMOS process. Broader Impacts. This project will allow the PIs to train graduate and undergraduate students in a truly cross-disciplinary research environment combining physics, nanoscale materials, circuit design, and power electronics applications. This research effort will also feed a new course at Columbia on power electronics, with a special emphasis on integrated approaches, bridging the disconnect between the power electronics community and the traditional integrated circuit design community. Significant effort will be made for K-12 outreach by systematically training highly motivated high school students within the program and also enhancing the interaction with the local K-12 educators.