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 (≤mW) 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.
