CAREER: Adaptive and Built-in Defect and Fault Tolerance for Crossbar Nano-architectures

Northeastern University, Boston MA

Investigators

Abstract

CCF - 0746836 Title: CAREER: Adaptive and Built-in Defect and Fault Tolerance for Crossbar Nano-architectures PI name:Tahoori, Mehdi B. Inst: Northeastern University ABSTRACT: Improvements in chip manufacturing technology have propelled an astonishing growth of electronic systems which are integrated into our daily lives. However, this trend is facing serious challenges, making emerging nanotechnologies inevitable for future chip manufacturing. The major challenge for nanotechnologies is reliability. Nanoscale devices are more likely to fail, both at the manufacturing and during the operating lifetime, compared to traditional devices used in today's chips. Elevated number of defects adversely affects the manufacturing yield, causing a severe negative economic impact on the nanoelectronic industry. This project focuses on a set of fully integrated educational and research activities to provide defect and fault tolerance in the presence of high defect densities. To tolerate high defect rates, defect tolerance to improve the manufacturing yield (for fabrication defects) and fault tolerance to ensure the lifetime reliability (for errors during normal operation) are integrated in the design methodologies for nanotechnologies. The target platform is the programmable crossbar nano-architecture built using carbon nanotubes. Adaptive and built-in defect and fault tolerant design flows, fundamentally different from conventional approaches, are developed in which the objective is to ensure high manufacturing yield and runtime reliability of the circuit at extremely low costs. Defect and fault tolerance are built into the circuit, minimizing the communication with expensive and time-consuming off-chip equipments. Moreover, the proposed built-in defect and fault tolerance will automatically adapt to the level of manufacturing and runtime defects, making them optimal for a wide range of fabrication processes, operation environments, and applications.