The Turn of Moore’s Law From Space to Time : The Crisis, The Perspective and The Strategy

This book states that a space-induced crisis is recognized as the cause of trouble that Moore’s Law is currently facing. The contemporary practice of this empirical law can be considered as happening within a space-dominant paradigm. An alternative of exploiting potential in the dimension of time is identified as an emerging paradigm in microelectronics. The new practice is termed a time-oriented paradigm. It is justified as the turn of Moore’s Law from space to time. The resultant Time-Moore strategy is envisioned as the next-generation enabler for continuing Moore’s Law’s pursuit of everhigher information processing power and efficiency. It also serves as the perpetuation of the spirit that Moore’s law is nothing but a collective storied history of innovations. In the first part of this book, by following Thomas Kuhn’s seminal work around the concepts of paradigm and scientific revolution, the argument for the Time-Moore strategy (Time-Moore: to use time more) and the paradigm shift from space to time is carried out heavily through philosophical persuasion rather than technical proof due to the difficult challenge of change-of-mindset. The second part of the book provides solid technical materials for supporting this transition from the old paradigm to the new one. In short, the goal of this book is to reevaluate the contemporary practice of microelectronics, identify the cause of the current crisis, advocate a change-of-mindset to circumvent the crisis, and ultimately point out a new route for advancing. After achieving so many unprecedented accomplishments through several decades of relentless endeavor, it’s time for the big ship of Moore’s Law (i.e., the art of microelectronic system design) to make a turn. Preface Motivation for This Book The Electronic World, and The Moore’s Law, as I See It My Regrets My Thankfulness A Long-Range Strategy Contents Abbreviations 1 Preamble References 2 Microelectronics as a Normal Engineering Practice for Supporting an Industry 2.1 Major Milestones in Semiconductor Industry 2.2 Innovative Business Models for a Dynamic Industry 2.3 The Role of Creative Minds: Leadership Versus Command-And-Control 2.4 The Road to Normal Engineering: From Science to Technology 2.5 After the Formation of a Paradigm: Puzzle-Solving Engineering 2.6 A Missing Attribute of the Puzzle References 3 The Space Crisis in Current Paradigm 3.1 Perception of Space, Time, Change and Motion 3.2 A Magnificent Show of Only Two Actors: Transistor and Signal 3.3 Space and Time as Real Estate in Microelectronics Business 3.4 Clock: The Most Important Signal and Its Three Functions 3.5 Pursuit of Computation Efficiency from the Perspective of Space: Moore’s Law 3.6 The Recognition of a Crisis References 4 Response to the Space Crisis 4.1 Time and Clock: Recourse to Philosophy and Debate over Fundamental 4.2 Three Types of Time: Mechanical, Secular and Electronic 4.3 Microelectronics as an Evolution Process and the Emergence of Time Within 4.4 Connecting Space and Time by a Property of Clock Signal: Frequency 4.5 Clock Frequency: The Method of Indirect Period Multiplication (PLL) and Its Ineptitude to Solve Two Long-Standing Problems 4.6 Clock Frequency: A New Concept and a New Approach of Direct Period Synthesis for Meeting the Challenge 4.7 The Response: Time-Oriented Paradigm 4.8 Left and Right: Space and Time as Two Arms for Lifting the Weight of Signal Processing 4.9 Top and Bottom: From System to Circuit and from Circuit to System 4.10 The Good News: It Is Free, or Almost Free References 5 Time Moore Strategy: Bridging the Old and New Paradigms 5.1 The Essence of Moore’s Law and the Principle of Least Action 5.2 The Importance of Clock Technology: From Application Point of View 5.3 The Deleterious Consequence of the Two Long-Standing Problems 5.4 Whenever and Wherever: It’s Time to Use Time 5.5 Time Moore Strategy as the Bridge References 6 Old World and New Insight: Solving Problem with a Gestalt Switch 6.1 Recapitulation: Data Processing Investigated from Two Perspectives 6.2 A Novel Frequency-Tunable Clock Source: TAF-DPS DCXO 6.2.1 Review on Tunable Frequency Source 6.2.2 Architecture of TAF-DPS Based Frequency Tuning 6.2.3 TAF-DPS DCXO Demonstration on FPGA 6.2.4 In Comparison to Commercial Products 6.2.5 Application Example #1: Correcting Frequency Error On-The-Fly 6.2.6 Application Example #2: Counteracting Aging-Induced Frequency Drift 6.2.7 Application Example #3: On-Chip Emulation of Si570 Function 6.2.8 Application Example #4: A DCXO Module for Clock Synchronization in MPEG2 Transport System 6.2.9 Application Example #5: A Method of GPS Disciplined Clock for Improving Frequency Accuracy and Steering Frequency 6.3 On-Chip Syntonistor for Assisting Time Synchronization in Network 6.3.1 Notion of Time 6.3.2 Frequency, Phase and Time Synchronization 6.3.3 Establishing a Common Notion of Time 6.3.4 Applications of Packet-Switched Synchronization 6.3.5 Clock Synchronization in Network Standards 6.3.6 Key Components in Clock Synchronization Algorithms 6.3.7 Motivation for On-Chip Syntonistor: Eliminate Frequency Offset and Drift from a Hardware Perspective 6.3.8 Suitability of Frequency Sources as On-Chip Syntonistor 6.3.9 TAF-DPS as On-Chip Syntonistor for Assisting Time Synchronization 6.3.10 A Method of Using TAF-DPS Syntonistor for Tuning Physical Clock 6.4 Spread Spectrum Clock Generation: Always-On Boundary Spread SSCG 6.4.1 The Architecture of Always-On Boundary Spread (AOBS) 6.4.2 Experimental Validation of AOBS SSCG 6.4.3 Applying AOBS on Real System: Always-On 6.5 On-Chip Chirp Signal Generator 6.6 Frequency Lock on Time-Average-Frequency: All Digital TAF-FLL 6.6.1 TAF-FLL Architectures 6.6.2 TAF-FLL Experimental Verification 6.7 Random Number Generator Using Interplay of Frequency Sources as Entropy 6.7.1 Frequency-Mixing TAF-DPS TRNG 6.7.2 Frequency-Tracking TAF-DPS TRNG 6.7.3 Some Open Issues for Further Investigation 6.8 Inscribing Temporal Encryption on Spatial MPV Imprints for PUF 6.8.1 Brief Review on the Characteristics of TAF-DPS Operation 6.8.2 TeS-PUF Architecture and Its Circuit 6.8.3 Proof-Of-Concept on FPGA 6.8.4 Directions for Future Research 6.9 TAF-DPS as a PWM Signal Generator 6.10 A Case of Signal Processing in Time Dimension: Deterministic Stochastic Computing 6.10.1 The Scheme of Using TAF-DPS for Stochastic Operation 6.10.2 Conversion from Binary Number to Desired Pulse Train 6.10.3 Deterministic Bitstream and Stochastic Operation 6.11 Reducing FIFO Memory Size and Smoothing Data Flow 6.12 Clock Data Recovery by Explicitly Using Time-Average-Frequency 6.13 TAF-DPS for Dynamic Frequency Scaling 6.14 Flexible Clocking for Resource-Constrained Environment in Edge and IoT 6.15 TAF-DPS Generator in Large SoC for Producing Clock Frequencies 6.16 TAF-DPS for the Challenge of Global Clock Distribution 6.17 Frequency Issue in Clock Distribution Through Resonant Clock 6.18 TAF-DPS for Network-On-Chip GALS Strategy 6.19 One-Wire Communication Using Edge-For-Clock-Duty-Cycle-For-Data 6.20 Spectrum Pattern as Message for Communication 6.21 Conversion Between Time Span and Digital Value for Sensing and Actuating 6.22 Connection-Adaptive Dynamic-Frequency Clocking for Sparse CNN 6.23 Latency Awareness Computer: Frequency Scalable ISA and Microarchitecture 6.24 The Missing Piece in FPGA and Reconfigurable SoC: Programmable Frequency Source 6.25 TAF-DPS Clock Source as a Tool in Design for Manufacture 6.26 Digital-To-Frequency Converter and Frequency as a Variable in Programming References 7 Forefront of the New Paradigm: Using Time to Encode Information 7.1 The State of Extraordinary Research and Development Activities 7.2 Computation Variable and Data Representation in Electronic System 7.3 Multi-value Rate-of-Switching as a Method for Signal Processing 7.4 The First Three Challenges References 8 Epilogue: It’s Time for the Big Ship of Moore’s Law to Make a Turn 8.1 The Continuation of Evolution but Along a New Path 8.2 The Full Picture of Time Moore: Clock Moore and Rate Moore 8.3 No Science and Engineering Can Go Forever Unchallenged 8.4 Attitude Toward Paradigm Shift: Change-of-Mindset is Extremely Difficult Reference