Tuesday 06/26/2012: 10:00 AM - 11:30 AM
IBM T. J. Watson Research Center
Yorktown Heights
NY
Title:
A Cross-layer Framework for Monitoring and Mitigating Wearout
Speaker: Bardia Zandian, MHI Ph.D. Scholar
Abstract:
Efforts to continue with CMOS scaling while improving performance and controlling power consumption have resulted in accelerated processor wearout. In the first part of this talk, I’ll present WearMon, a cross-layer framework for monitoring circuit runtime wearout. WearMon uses adaptive critical path testing to provide a real-time measure of a processor's wearout-induced timing margin degradation. I will then present a design time refinement that significantly improves the efficiency and implementation feasibility of WearMon. The refinement uses path timing information and application-driven path utilization profile to isolate and target only a few critical paths for wearout monitoring even in the presence of a steep critical path timing wall.
In the second part of my talk, I’ll present a framework to increase the lifespan of a chip using wearout-aware scheduling polices. This framework uses real-time wearout information from a network of wearout sensors on the chip to adjust the utilization of different structures on the chip. Wear-leveling prevents early failure of a chip due to excessive wearout of a few vulnerable structures.
Location: IBM T.J. Watson Research Center - Yorktown Heights, NY
