RF-interconnect for future network-on-chip

Abstract

In the era of the nanometer CMOS technology, due to stringent system requirements in power and performance, microprocessor manufacturers are relying more on chip multi-processor (CMP) designs. CMPs partition silicon real estate among a number of processor cores and on-chip caches, and these components are connected via an on-chip interconnection network (Network-on-chip). It is projected that communication via NoC is one of the primary limiters to both performance and power consumption. To mitigate such problems, we explore the use of multiband RF-interconnect (RF-I) which can communicate simultaneously through multiple frequency bands with low power signal transmission and reconfigurable bandwidth. At the same time, we investigate the CMOS mixed-signal circuit implementation challenges for improving the RF-I signaling integrity and efficiency. Furthermore, we propose a micro-architectural framework that can be used to facilitate the exploration of scalable low power NoC architectures based on physical planning and prototyping. © 2011 Springer Science+Business Media LLC.