SHF: Small: Collaborative Research: STEMS: STatistic Emerging Memory Simulator

SHF：小型：协作研究：STEMS：统计新兴内存模拟器

• 批准号: 1461698
• 负责人: Yuan Xie
• 金额: $ 11.45万
• 依托单位: University of California-Santa Barbara
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2014
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2014-08-16 至 2016-06-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1461698&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: SHF; Small; Collaborative; Research; STEMS

Emerging memory technologies such as Magnetoresistive random-access memory (MRAM), Phase-change memory (PCRAM), and Resistive random-access memory (RRAM) are being explored as potential alternatives for future computing systems. However, traditional memory design methodologies are not sufficient to address probabilistic behaviors, which are caused by process variations and the intrinsic randomness in the physical mechanisms (e.g., thermal fluctuations) of these emerging technologies. The objective of this research is to develop a design methodology called STatistical Emerging Memory Simulator (STEMS) for circuit/architecture designs with such emerging memory technologies. The intellectual merits include the following: (1) developing a generic statistical characterization formalism to link the emerging memory cell design specifications with design variables, process variations and environmental fluctuations, (2) deriving a variation-aware compact memory cell model to fulfill the demands of the statistical design optimizations at cell and array levels, and (3) investigating a statistical memory design methodology to explore the tradeoffs among memory structure, implementation cost, and design specifications for various system requirements. The proposed research will fundamentally change the design methodologies for future memory technologies, initiate an innovative direction in memory designs, and optimize and balance the new design characteristics of emerging memories under architectural considerations, inspiring the transition of design philosophy from the deterministic era to the probabilistic era. The proposed techniques provide a complementary perspective to the existing probabilistic system and architectural research while emphasizing the yield and probabilistic properties of memory designs. This project will facilitate further advances and wider adoption of the emerging memory technologies by the semiconductor industry. Innovations in design methods and memory modeling will have an impact on the way in which semiconductor memory chips are designed and fabricated. Undergraduate and graduate students involved in this research will be trained for the next-generation semiconductor industry workforce.

正在探索新兴的内存技术，例如磁磁性随机记忆（MRAM），相变内存（PCRAM）和电阻随机访问记忆（RRAM），作为未来计算系统的潜在替代方案。但是，传统的记忆设计方法不足以解决概率行为，这些行为是由过程变化和这些新兴技术的物理机制（例如热波动）的内在随机性引起的。这项研究的目的是开发一种使用此类新兴记忆技术的电路/体系结构设计的设计方法，称为统计新兴记忆模拟器（STEM）。智力优点包括以下内容：（1）开发一种通用的统计表征形式主义，以将新兴的记忆单元格设计规范与设计变量，过程变化和环境波动联系起来，（2）得出一种变异意识的紧凑记忆单元模型，以满足统计设计的统计设计，并将存储器设计用于（3）记忆设计，以及（3），探索了（​​3）记忆设计，以及（3）各种系统要求的规格。拟议的研究将从根本上改变未来记忆技术的设计方法，在内存设计中启动创新的方向，并优化和平衡建筑考虑下新兴记忆的新设计特征，从而激发了从确定性时代到概率时代的设计理念的过渡。提出的技术为现有概率系统和建筑研究提供了互补的观点，同时强调了记忆设计的产量和概率特性。该项目将促进半导体行业对新兴记忆技术的进一步进步和更广泛的采用。设计方法和内存建模的创新将对半导体存储芯片的设计和制造方式产生影响。参与这项研究的本科生和研究生将接受下一代半导体行业劳动力的培训。