CSR:Large:Collaborative Research:Reclaiming Moore's Law through Ultra Energy Efficient Computing

该奖项是根据2009年《美国复苏和再投资法案》(公法111-5)提供资金的。摩尔-S定律承诺在可预见的未来持续增加晶体管密度。然而，器件扩展不再提供过去几十年推动半导体增长的能源收益。这造成了一个设计悖论：现在一个芯片上可以安装更多的门，但由于严格的功率限制，实际上无法使用。在这个项目中，我们将通过普遍应用近阈值计算来解决这一能源危机。(NTC)，其中器件以或接近其阈值电压运行，以获得10倍或更高的能效改进。为了实现这一点，我们将重点放在迄今阻碍低压操作广泛使用的三个关键挑战上：1)性能损失10倍，2)性能变化增加5倍，以及3)功能故障增加5个数量级。我们提出了一种从算法和体系结构到电路和工艺级别的方法相结合的协同方法。我们将展示适用于各种应用的NTC，从严重依赖超低功耗(？mw)和降低外形因数(Mm3)来解锁新应用的基于传感器的平台，到大型数据中心中的高性能平台(其耗电量如此之大，以至于需要在专用冷却设施附近托管)。我们的最终目标是通过大幅提高能源效率来减少国家能源消耗和环境影响，同时通过提供对生物功能的现场监测，以最少的干预开辟医疗保健的新应用领域。

This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5). Moore?s law promises consistent increasing transistor densities for the foreseeable future. However, device scaling no longer delivers the energy gains that drove the semiconductor growth of the past several decades. This has created a design paradox: more gates can now fit on a die, but cannot actually be used due to strict power limits. In this project, we will address this energy crisis through the universal application of ?near-threshold computing? (NTC), where devices operate at or near their threshold voltage to obtain 10X or higher energy efficiency improvements. To accomplish this we focus on three key challenges that to date have kept low voltage operation from widespread use: 1) 10X loss in performance, 2) 5X increase in performance variation, and 3) 5 orders of magnitude increase in functional failure. We present a synergistic approach combining methods from algorithm and architecture levels to the circuit and technology levels. We will demonstrate NTC for applications that range from sensor-based platforms which critically depend on ultra-low power (¡ÜmW) and reduced form factor (mm3) to unlock new applications, to high-performance platforms in large data-centers, which dissipate so much power that they require co-location near dedicated cooling facilities. Our end goal is to reduce national energy consumption and environmental impact by providing dramatic gains in energy efficiency while also opening up new application areas in health care by providing for in situ monitoring of biological functions with minimum intervention.