20th International Conference on VLSI Design held jointly with 6th International Conference on Embedded Systems (VLSID'07)
Temperature-limited microprocessors: Measurements and design implications
Bangalore, India
January 06-January 10
ISBN: 0-7695-2762-0
Alan Weger, IBM T.J. Watson Research Center, Yorktown Heights, NY, USA
James Lacey, IBM T.J. Watson Research Center, Yorktown Heights, NY, USA
Zhigang Hu, IBM T.J. Watson Research Center, Yorktown Heights, NY, USA
Pradip Bose, IBM T.J. Watson Research Center, Yorktown Heights, NY, USA
Erwin Cohen, IBM Systems and Technology Group, Essex Junction, VT, USA
Jamil Wakil, IBM System and Technology Group, Austin, TX, USA
The details of the power distribution of state of the art CMOS chips (e.g., local regions of high power (or hotspots), which disproportionally drive up junction temperatures) can have a severe impact on reliability, manufacturing yield and chip performances. In this paper we discuss the results of a recently developed technique (Spatially-resolved imaging of micro-processor power (SIMP)), which can measure power and temperature distributions of high power chips (e.g., microprocessors) under full operating conditions. Specifically, we present detailed microprocessor power distributions for different workloads with and without power/thermal management. The data yields a more comprehensive understanding of the relationships between hotspots and the respective designs, layouts, floorplans, micro-architectures and thermal/power management schemes, which is discussed in detail.
Citation:
Hendrik F. Hamann, Alan Weger, James Lacey, Zhigang Hu, Pradip Bose, Erwin Cohen, Jamil Wakil, "Temperature-limited microprocessors: Measurements and design implications," vlsid, pp.427-432, 20th International Conference on VLSI Design held jointly with 6th International Conference on Embedded Systems (VLSID'07), 2007