The basic hardware technology that is used to build microprocessors and the applications we run on them are are radically changing. Hardware building blocks are becoming increasingly brittle and error-prone, leading to a fundamentally unpredictable hardware substrate. Applications are also changing, and emerging new classes of applications are increasingly relying on probabilistic methods. They have an inherent tolerance for uncertainty, do not require hardware to be correct all the time, and this provides an opportunity to creatively utilize hardware.
This CAREER proposal develops a vertically integrated approach that exposes these hardware properties to the applications to develop more efficient system-wide solutions. This simplifies the physical manufacturing and design of microprocessors, and can make them more efficient. The PI unifies analyses in different parts of the microelectronics system stack to develop new interfaces between layers and techniques to expose more information across these layers. In the integrated education plan, the PI seeks to broaden the computer architecture curriculum by educating students on the implications of these physical silicon technology drivers on microprocessor designs. The research component of this proposal has broad implications across all microelectronic systems since it is becoming harder to manufacture smaller and smaller devices. The innovations proposed can enable continued technology scaling and have the potential to reduce complexity and cost in the overall micro-electronics system stack, and help maintain the US lead in microelectronics.
This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5).
