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IEEE International Superconductive Electronics Conference (ISEC)

Demonstration of an Energy-Efficient, Gate-Level-Pipelined 100 TOPS/W Arithmetic Logic Unit Based on Low-Voltage Rapid Single-Flux-Quantum Logic

Ikki Nagaoka, Masamitsu Tanaka, Kyosuke Sano, Taro Yamashita, Akira Fujimaki, Koji Inoue

Published Jul 1, 2019• 15 citations
Publisher

Abstract

We report the successful operation of an energy-efficient 8-bit arithmetic logic unit (ALU) based on bit-parallel, gate-Ievel-pipelining, and low-voltage rapid single-flux-quantum (LV-RSFQ) approaches. We implemented the ALU using a 10-kA/cm2Nb process. The bias voltage was optimized to obtain high energy efficiency. Although lowed bias voltage leads to difficulty in timing design, we solved the problem by precise timing control. The operating frequency reached 30 GHz. Thanks to these high-throughput and low-energy technologies, we realized highly energy-efficient operation over 100 tera-operations per second per watt (TOPS/W).

DOI
10.1109/isec46533.2019.8990905

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We report the successful operation of an energy-efficient 8-bit arithmetic logic unit (ALU) based on bit-parallel, gate-Ievel-pipelining, and low-voltage rapid single-flux-quantum (LV-RSFQ) approaches. We implemented the ALU using a 10-kA/cm2Nb process. The bias voltage was optimized to obtain high energy efficiency. Although lowed bias voltage leads to difficulty in timing design, we solved the problem by precise timing control. The operating frequency reached 30 GHz. Thanks to these high-throughput and low-energy technologies, we realized highly energy-efficient operation over 100 tera-operations per second per watt (TOPS/W).
We report the successful operation of a low-power arithmetic logic unit (ALU) based on a low-voltage rapid single-flux-quantum (LV-RSFQ) logic circuit, whereby a dc bias current is fed to circuits from lowered constant-voltage sources through small resistors. Both the static and dynamic energy consumptions are reduced because of the reduction in the amplitudes of voltage pulses across the Josephson junctions, with a trade-off of slightly slower switching speeds. The designed bias voltage was set to 0.25mV, which is one-tenth that of our standard RSFQ circuit design. We investigated several issues related to such low-voltage operation, including margins and timing design. To achieve successful operation, we tuned the circuit parameters in the logic gate design and carefully controlled the timing by considering the interference of pulse signals. We show test results for the low-voltage ALU in on-chip high-speed testing. The circuit was fabricated using the AIST Nb/AlOx/Nb Advanced Process with a critical current density of 10kA/cm2. We verified that arithmetic and logical operations were correctly implemented and obtained dc bias margins of 18% at a target clock frequency of 20GHz and achieved a maximum clock frequency of 28GHz with a power consumption of 28µW. These experimental results indicate energy efficiency of 3.6 times that of the standard RSFQ circuit design.
A high-throughput 4$\boldsymbol{\times }4−bitmultiplierwasdemonstratedusinganextremelycarefultimingdesignforlow−voltagerapidsingle−flux−quantum(LV−RSFQ)logic.Thedesignconsidersthelengthsofallwires,biasdependencyofthedelays,andloaddependencyofthesignalsplitters.ThekeyistointentionallyusebothJosephsontransmissionlinesandpassivetransmissionlinesforgate−to−gatewiring,evenovershortdistances,toformthesamestructurewiringastheclocklines.Thestructureofthemultiplierisbasedonabit−parallel,gate−levelpipelinetoexploitthroughput.ThetestchipwasfabricatedusingtheAIST10−kA/cm4-bit multiplier was demonstrated using an extremely careful timing design for low-voltage rapid single-flux-quantum (LV-RSFQ) logic. The design considers the lengths of all wires, bias dependency of the delays, and load dependency of the signal splitters. The key is to intentionally use both Josephson transmission lines and passive transmission lines for gate-to-gate wiring, even over short distances, to form the same structure wiring as the clock lines. The structure of the multiplier is based on a bit-parallel, gate-level pipeline to exploit throughput. The test chip was fabricated using the AIST 10-kA/cm4−bitmultiplierwasdemonstratedusinganextremelycarefultimingdesignforlow−voltagerapidsingle−flux−quantum(LV−RSFQ)logic.Thedesignconsidersthelengthsofallwires,biasdependencyofthedelays,andloaddependencyofthesignalsplitters.ThekeyistointentionallyusebothJosephsontransmissionlinesandpassivetransmissionlinesforgate−to−gatewiring,evenovershortdistances,toformthesamestructurewiringastheclocklines.Thestructureofthemultiplierisbasedonabit−parallel,gate−levelpipelinetoexploitthroughput.ThetestchipwasfabricatedusingtheAIST10−kA/cm\boldsymbol{^2},Nb/AlOx/Nb,9−Nb−layerAdvancedProcess2.Themeasuredmaximumoperatingfrequency,throughput,andpowerconsumptionwithoutcoolingcostinthehigh−speedon−chiptestwere52GHz,52G−operationspersecond(GOPS),and134, Nb/AlOx/Nb, 9-Nb-layer Advanced Process 2. The measured maximum operating frequency, throughput, and power consumption without cooling cost in the high-speed on-chip test were 52 GHz, 52 G-operations per second (GOPS), and 134,Nb/AlOx/Nb,9−Nb−layerAdvancedProcess2.Themeasuredmaximumoperatingfrequency,throughput,andpowerconsumptionwithoutcoolingcostinthehigh−speedon−chiptestwere52GHz,52G−operationspersecond(GOPS),and134\boldsymbol{\mu }W,respectively.AlthoughtheswitchingspeedoftheJosephsonjunctionswasreducedby40W, respectively. Although the switching speed of the Josephson junctions was reduced by 40W,respectively.AlthoughtheswitchingspeedoftheJosephsonjunctionswasreducedby40\boldsymbol{\%}$owing to the low-voltage operation, the obtained clock frequency was as high as that demonstrated with the standard bias voltage. The energy efficiency was 381 tera-operations per second per watt (TOPS/W) at 4.2 K. Further improvement in energy efficiency is expected by using low-voltage half-flux-quantum (LV-HFQ) circuits and shrinking the size of Josephson junctions.
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We have designed and demonstrated an arithmetic logic unit (ALU) based on rapid single-flux-quantum (RSFQ) technology. The ALU has been developed toward demonstration of high-performance information processing using a general purpose microprocessor CORE e4. The target operation frequency of the ALU is 50 GHz. In this paper, we present the design and high- speed functionality test results of the ALU. The ALU can execute 10 instructions. We aimed at high frequency operation with precise timing design using logic gates synchronized to the clock signal. The ALU contains 1555 Josephson junctions (JJs) and occupies a circuit area of 0.53mm2. We have demonstrated the correct operation of the ALU using on-chip high-speed test. The estimated maximum operating frequency based on measurement results is 80 GHz.
• A high performance ALU is critical for overall processor performance. • Bypass technology reduces calculation time and prevents data hazards. • Carry-control optimization technology needs minimal hardware costs. • The ALU can perform all operations, achieving up to 100 % utilization. Two optimization technologies, namely, bypass and carry-control optimization, were demonstrated for enhancing the performance of a bit-slice Arithmetic Logic Unit (ALU) in 2 n -bit Rapid Single-Flux-Quantum (RSFQ) microprocessors. These technologies can not only shorten the calculation time but also solve data hazards. Among them, the proposed bypass technology is applicable to any 2 n -bit ALU, whether it is bit-serial, bit-slice or bit-parallel. The high performance bit-slice ALU was implemented using the 6 k A/cm 2 Nb/AlO x /Nb junction fabrication process from Superconducting Electronics Facility of Shanghai Institute of Microsystem and Information Technology. It consists of 1693 Josephson junctions with an area of 2.46 × 0.81 mm 2 . All ALU operations of the MIPS32 instruction set are implemented, including two extended instructions, i.e., addition with carry (ADDC) and subtraction with borrow (SUBB). All the ALU operations were successfully obtained in SFQ testing based on OCTOPUX and the measured DC bias current margin can reach 86 % - 104 % . The ALU achieves a 100 % utilization rate, regardless of carry/borrow read-after-write correlations between instructions.
A 4-bit bit-slice arithmetic logic unit (ALU) for 32-bit rapid single-flux-quantum microprocessors was demonstrated. The proposed ALU covers all of the ALU operations for the MIPS32 instruction set. It processes bit-sliced 32-bit data that are divided into eight slices of 4 bits. The bit-slice approach simplifies the circuit structure and reduces the hardware cost. The ALU uses synchronous concurrent-flow clocking and consists of eight pipeline stages. It was implemented using the 1.0-μm Nb/AlOx/Nb nine-layer advanced process 2 (ADP2) with a critical current density of 10 kA/cm2, and fabricated by National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST). It consists of 3481 Josephson junctions with an area of 3.09 × 1.66 mm2. It achieved the target frequency of 50 GHz and a latency of 524 ps for a 32-bit operation, at the designed DC bias voltage of 2.5 mV, via precise control of interconnect delays and clock distribution. Furthermore, it achieved a throughput of 6.25 × 10932-bit operations per second. All the correct ALU operations with measured DC bias voltage margins of around 10% at 50 GHz were successfully obtained. The proposed ALU can be used for any 4n-bit processing.