Home > Press > European project solves variability issues of designing in deep submicron IC technology
Abstract:
REALITY, a European funded initiative on Design for Variability, has just finished its project mission.
European project solves variability issues of designing in deep submicron IC technology
Leuven, Belgium | Posted on September 21st, 2010
In about its 2.5 years lifespan REALITY has focused on developing industrially relevant innovative design techniques, methods, and flows for the design and analysis of energy-efficient self-adaptive System-on-Chips (SoCs). The tackled challenges include benchmarking the impact of the latest 32nm CMOS process manufacturing variability at all abstraction levels, from device to System-on-a-Chip level, while developing approaches to compensate their negative impact in the design of final products. REALITY has resulted in a number of first time conclusions.
Full-scale 3D simulation of statistical variability associated with metal gate granularity and the corresponding metal work function variations have been carried out to clarify the magnitude of statistical variability in 32nm CMOS transistors with high-k/metal gate stack. For these devices the metal granularities can double the variability if the metal grain size becomes comparable to the transistor dimensions.
Also, a full statistical characterization of an ARM926 core has been achieved. A correlation between the timing, leakage and dynamic power has been demonstrated on local (within die) and non-local (above die) variations. The traditional corner analysis could be benchmarked with innovative statistical analysis techniques. Using the ARM core as driver, REALITY has confirmed that the SRAM components are responsible for more than the half of the variations on critical path timing.
Hence, Statistical Timing Analysis (SSTA) flows that assume predictable timing response from these components may lead to over-optimistic conclusions. For that purpose REALITY has deployed a holistic statistical characterization flow including SRAM analysis.
With a novel flow integrating manufacturing variations and ageing effects for mixed-signal circuits, the REALITY project also developed a CAD environment that allows designers to make more accurate estimations and thus make circuits more energy and cost efficient.
Finally, REALITY evaluated the impact of process variation in SW-level metrics showing process variability is not only a concern for HW but for SW as well. Variability affecting multi-core multimedia platforms makes it hard to guarantee a certain QoS from the running application's functionality. For that purpose, different circuit design techniques for system adaptation have been investigated, among them Adaptive Body Biasing (ABB). REALITY has shown that ABB can speed up a system-on-chip when due to technology parameter variations the manufactured product became too slow.
####
For more information, please click here
Contacts:
Miguel Miranda
Project Coordinator
imec
Kapeldreef 75, 3001 Leuven, Belgium
Copyright © imec
If you have a comment, please
Contact us.
Issuers of news releases, not 7th Wave, Inc. or Nanotechnology Now, are solely responsible for the accuracy of the content.
Bookmark:
News and information
Glowing Plant Releases Maker Kit, Enabling Anyone to Make a Glowing Plant at Home: Glowing Plant seeks funds via crowdfunding and raises almost $400,000 May 23rd, 2013
IDTechEx launches online Market Intelligence Portal May 23rd, 2013
UofL scientists uncover how grapefruits provide a secret weapon in medical drug delivery May 22nd, 2013
Atomic-Scale Investigations Solve Key Puzzle of LED Efficiency: MIT and Brookhaven Lab scientists use electron microscopy imaging techniques to settle a solid-state controversy and raise new experimental possibilities May 22nd, 2013
Chip Technology
Researchers Stitch Defects into the World’s Thinnest Semiconductor May 22nd, 2013
Whirlpools on the Nanoscale Could Multiply Magnetic Memory: At the Advanced Light Source, Berkeley Lab scientists join an international team to control spin orientation in magnetic nanodisks May 22nd, 2013
Imec and GLOBALFOUNDRIES collaborate to advance high-density memory technology: STT-MRAM offers enhanced performance and scalability for embedded and standalone applications May 21st, 2013
Penn engineers' nanoantennas improve infrared sensing May 20th, 2013
Nanoelectronics
Imec and Renesas collaborate on ultra-low power short range radios: Collaboration will develop robust wireless solutions for future electronics May 16th, 2013
Piezoelectric 'taxel' arrays convert motion to electronic signals for tactile imaging April 25th, 2013
Battery and Memory Device in One April 25th, 2013
Secret of the Crystal's Corners: New Nanowire Structure Has Potential to Increase Semiconductor Applications: University of Cincinnati research describes discovery of a new structure that is a fundamental game changer in the physics of semiconductor nanowires April 23rd, 2013
Announcements
Glowing Plant Releases Maker Kit, Enabling Anyone to Make a Glowing Plant at Home: Glowing Plant seeks funds via crowdfunding and raises almost $400,000 May 23rd, 2013
IDTechEx launches online Market Intelligence Portal May 23rd, 2013
UofL scientists uncover how grapefruits provide a secret weapon in medical drug delivery May 22nd, 2013
Atomic-Scale Investigations Solve Key Puzzle of LED Efficiency: MIT and Brookhaven Lab scientists use electron microscopy imaging techniques to settle a solid-state controversy and raise new experimental possibilities May 22nd, 2013
Alliances/Partnerships/Distributorships
Imec and GLOBALFOUNDRIES collaborate to advance high-density memory technology: STT-MRAM offers enhanced performance and scalability for embedded and standalone applications May 21st, 2013
NIA Public Briefing: Nanotechnology and the Council of Europe May 17th, 2013
Imec and Renesas collaborate on ultra-low power short range radios: Collaboration will develop robust wireless solutions for future electronics May 16th, 2013
HELIOS Program Develops Complete Supply Chain for Integrating Photonics with CMOS Circuit via IC Fabrication Processes May 14th, 2013