Towards High-Performance and Energy-Efficient Multi-core Processors

Abstract

Traditional uni-core processors have met tremendous challenges to improve their performance and energy efficiency, and to adapt to the deep submicron fabrication technology. Meanwhile, traditional ASIC implementations are also widely prohibited due to their inherent inflexibility and high design cost. On the other hand, rapidly advancing fabrication technologies have enabled the integration of many processors into a single chip, called multi-core processors, and promise a platform with high performance, high energy efficiency, and high flexibility. This chapter will discuss the motivations of shifting from traditional IC systems (including uni-core processors and ASIC implementations) to multi-core processors, investigate the design cases of multi-core processors and their key features, and look forward to the future work.