Design of nonvolatile processors and applications

Abstract

Energy harvesting is under intense investigation as a promising substitute for batteries. However, given the erratic nature of ambient energy sources, temporary status in conventional CMOS circuits can be lost upon a sudden power outage. Taking advantage of emerging nonvolatile memories (NVMs), nonvolatile processor (NVP) backs up system contexts when power failure occurs, and recalls pre-stored data on resumption. It has become a hot topic for the capability to survive power variations and to guarantee forward progress on computation tasks. This paper acts as a brief guide introducing the concepts, the current status, the challenges and opportunities, as well as emerging applications of NVPs. Through this paper, we expect to help researchers who are new in this area better understand the development trends and future research prospects. We also hope to attract researchers to join and explore more innovative applications of NVP.