VLSI Architecture: Past, Present, and Future

Abstract

This paper examines the impact of VLSI technology on the evolution of computer architecture and projects the future of this evolution. We see that over the past 20 years, the increased density of VLSI chips was applied to close the gap between microprocessors and high-end CPUs. Today this gap is fully closed and adding devices to uniprocessors is well beyond the point of diminishing returns. To continue to convert the increasing density of VLSI to computer performance we see little alternative to building multicomputers. We sketch the architecture of a VLSI multicomputer constructed from c. 2009 processor-DRAM chips and outline some of the challenges involved in building such a system. We suggest that the software transition from sequential processors to such fine-grain multicomputers can be eased by using the multicomputer as the memory system of a conventional computer.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Jan 01, 1998
Accession Number
ADA419586

Entities

People

  • Bill Dally
  • Steve Lacy

Organizations

  • Stanford University

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Energy and Power Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Bandwidth
  • Boundaries
  • Computer Architecture
  • Computer Programming
  • Computer Programs
  • Computers
  • Computing System Architectures
  • Engineering
  • Grain Size
  • Image Processing
  • Information Processing
  • Instruction Set Architecture
  • Instructions
  • Large Scale Integration
  • Operating Systems
  • Simulations
  • Very Large Scale Integration

Fields of Study

  • Engineering

Readers

  • Parallel and Distributed Computing.
  • Systems Analysis and Design