W2 The Fruits of Variability Research in Europe
Organisers:
Scott Roy, University of Glasgow, UK
Mark Zwolinski, University of Southampton, UK
Description:
It is impossible to realise billions of devices which are completely identical at the atomic scale. Fluctuations induced by process tolerances and material granularity are now a major industrial issue. Important questions associated with such variability are: What are the major causes of fluctuations at device level? How do fluctuations affect the functionality, operating frequency and reliability of devices, circuits and systems? What countermeasures are possible and which are best taken at each level?
This workshop is prompted by the confluence of a recent upsurge in academic interest in the area and because of the presence of a number of EU and UK consortia presently producing results:
- UK EPSRC Meeting the design challenges of nano-CMOS electronics
- EU FP7 Reliable and Variability tolerant System-on-a-chip Design in More-Moore Technologies
- EU ENIAC MOdeling and DEsign of Reliable, process variation-aware nanoelectronic devices, circuits and systems
The Workshop will cover recent significant results from these EU projects and point to future research directions. A keynote from a recognised Japanese expert will pave the way for sessions on: the measurement, simulation and modelling of device variability in today’s and end-of-roadmap devices; progress in simulation tools to analyse the effects of device variability on circuit and systems level manufacturability, design, reliability and circuit performance; techniques for creating variability-resilient solutions in circuit and systems design. A concluding think tank will discuss future research and knowledge transfer to industry.
A Poster session will give attendees a focal point for sharing new developments in the field. Poster abstracts should be e-mailed to s [dot] roy [at] elec [dot] gla [dot] ac [dot] uk or mz [at] ecs [dot] soton [dot] ac [dot] uk and accept/reject decisions on posters will be made within a week of submission. Final deadline for submission of poster abstracts is 11th February 2010.
| 0845 | SESSION 1 - PERSPECTIVE Welcome and Introduction by the Organisers |
| 0900 | Keynote: Toshiro Hiramoto, University of Tokyo, JP Variability research: accomplishments and future directions - a Japanese perspective. |
| 1000 | Asen Asenov, Glasgow University, UK Device variability and reliability: towards the end of the roadmap. |
| 1030 | COFFEE & POSTER SESSION |
| 1100 | SESSION 2 - SIMULATION STRATEGIES & TOOLS |
| 1100 | Scott Roy, Glasgow University, UK Statistical compact model strategies: efficiently bridging the gap between devices and circuits. |
| 1130 | Miguel Miranda, IMEC, BE Hierarchical, variability aware circuit and system simulation. |
| 1200 | LUNCH BREAK |
| 1300 | SESSION 3 - SOLUTIONS |
| 1300 | Andy Tyrrell, University of York, UK Evolutionary algorithms as an aid to synthesis in the presence of variability. |
| 1330 | Georges Gielen, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, BE Variability and degradation resilient analogue and digital circuit design: techniques and solutions. |
| 1400 | Luca Benini, DEIS - Università di Bologna, IT System-level variability countermeasures in many-core computing - a vertically integrated view. |
| 1430 | COFFEE & POSTER SESSION |
| 1500 | SESSION 4 - THE FUTURE |
| 1500 | Steve Furber, Manchester University, UK SpiNNaker: a large scale SoC design as a test vehicle for variability modelling. |
| 1530 | Enrico Macii, Politecnico di Torino, IT MODERN, a European flagship project in variability and it’s impact on design -overview and goals. |
| 1600 | Miguel Miranda, IMEC, BE Hierarchical, variability aware circuit and system simulation. |
| 1630 | PANEL DISCUSSION - VARIABILITY RESEARCH: OUR PLACE IN THE WORLD? WHERE NEXT? |
| 1700 | Conclusions and Close |
