Current Issue : October - December Volume : 2011 Issue Number : 4 Articles : 6 Articles
Today's System-on-Chips (SoCs) design is extremely challenging because it involves complicated design tradeoffs and heterogeneous design expertise. To explore the large solution space, system architects have to rely on system-level simulators to identify an optimized SoC architecture. In this paper, we propose a system-level simulation framework, System Performance Simulation Implementation Mechanism, or SPSIM. Based on SystemC TLM2.0, the framework consists of an executable SoC model, a simulation tool chain, and a modeling methodology. Compared with the large body of existing research in this area, this work is aimed at delivering a high simulation throughput and, at the same time, guaranteeing a high accuracy on real industrial applications. Integrating the leading TLM techniques, our simulator can attain a simulation speed that is not slower than that of the hardware execution by a factor of 35 on a set of real-world applications. SPSIM incorporates effective timing models, which can achieve a high accuracy after hardware-based calibration. Experimental results on a set of mobile applications proved that the difference between the simulated and measured results of timing performance is within 10%, which in the past can only be attained by cycle-accurate models....
During the last two decades, significant amount of research has been performed to simplify the detection of transient or soft errors in VLSI-based digital systems. This paper proposes an approach for implementing state machines that uses 2-hot code for state encoding. State machines designed using this approach allow online detection of soft errors in registers and output logic. The 2-hot code considerably reduces the number of required flip-flops and leads to relatively straightforward implementation of next state and output logic. A new way of designing output logic for online fault detection has also been presented....
On-chip clock networks are remarkable in their impact on the performance and power of synchronous circuits, in their susceptibility to adverse effects of semiconductor technology scaling, as well as in their strong potential for improvement through better CAD algorithms and tools. Existing literature is rich in ideas and techniques but performs large-scale optimization using analytical models that lost accuracy at recent technology nodes and have rarely been validated by realistic SPICE simulations on large industry designs. Our work offers a methodology for SPICE-accurate optimization of clock networks, coordinated to satisfy slew constraints and achieve best tradeoffs between skew, insertion delay, power, as well as tolerance to variations. Our implementation, called Contango, is evaluated on 45?nm benchmarks from IBM Research and Texas Instruments with up to 50?K sinks. It outperforms all published results in terms of skew and shows superior scalability....
This paper presents some new considerations for spectral techniques for classification of Boolean functions. These considerations incorporate discussions of the feasibility of extending this classification technique beyond n = 5. A new implementation is presented along with a basic analysis of the complexity of the problem. We also note a correction to results in this area that were reported in previous work....
Nonlinear signal processing is necessary in many emerging applications where form factor and power are at a premium. In order to make such complex computation feasible under these constraints, it is necessary to implement the signal processors as analog circuits. Since analog circuit design is largely based on a linear systems perspective, new tools are being introduced to circuit designers that allow them to understand and exploit circuit nonlinearity for useful processing. This paper discusses two such tools, which represent nonlinear circuit behavior in a graphical way, making it easy to develop a qualitative appreciation for the circuits under study....
Based on the previous achievements in improving latch-up immunity of SOI LIGBT, process simulation on our proposed VG RF SOI NLIGBT was carried out with TCAD to provide a virtually fabricated device structure. Then, an approximate latching current model was derived according to the condition of minimum regenerative feedback couple between the parasitic dual-transistors. The model indicates that its latching current is a few orders higher than those before. Further verification through device simulation was done with TCAD, which proved that its weak snapback voltage in the off state is about 0.5ââ?¬â??2.75 times higher than those breakdown voltages reported before, its breakdown voltage in the off state is about 19?V higher than its weak snapback voltage, and its latching current density in the on state is about 2-3 orders of magnitude higher than those reported before at room temperature due to hole current bypass through P+ contact in P-well region. Therefore, it is characterized by significantly improved latch-up immunity....
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