The High Performance Microprocessor in the Year 2013: Will the laws of Physics finally catch up with the Microprocessor development cycle?

Dr.Yale N. Patt
Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Texas at Austin

September 12, 2003
11 a.m.
Campus Center Odeum

Abstract

Moore's Law promises to deliver more than one billion transistors processing at a rate greater than 10 GHz on a single chip by the year 2013. Is there anything left to do in Microarchitecture to make use of all this capability, or should we fold our tents and go home?

I have given similar lectures with this theme over the last fifteen years. In spite of the fact that naysayers have, on multiple occasions, proclaimed the end of continuous improvement in process technology as well as Microarchitecture enhancements, we in the field continue to defy and surprise them. Advances in all aspects of semiconductor technology have forced us to change our thinking on what is possible, and more importantly, what is desirable to incorporate on a single chip. Yesterday's news is today's old hat, but there is still plenty we can do.

In this talk, I will spend a little time discussing the rationale used by naysayers to continually pronounce the demise of our field of research. Then I will to discuss some of the things I think you will find on the microprocessor of the year 2013, in particular, the block-structured ISA, stronger use of SSMT, greater use of microcode, dedicated infrequently used functional units, and most importantly, a stronger coupling with the compiler and algorithm technologies. If time permits, I will discuss some things I think we will not see on the microprocessor chip of the year 2013, such as qbits and machines that think.

Biography

Yale Patt is Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering and the Ernest Cockrell, Jr. Centennial Chair in Engineering at The University of Texas at Austin. He directs the PhD research of 12 graduate students in computer architecture and teaches both the freshman introduction to computing and his graduate course in Microarchitecture. He has received the highest honors in his field for his research and teaching, including the 1996 IEEE/ACM Eckert Mauchly Award for his contributions to high performance microprocessor design and the 2000 ACM Karl V. Karlstrom Outstanding Educator Award for his contributions to education. He has had, for the past 35 years, an active consulting practice with Intel, Digital, NCR, Motorola and others. His freshman textbook "Introduction to Computing Systems: from bits and gates to C and beyond," has been adopted by more than 100 universities worldwide. Yale Patt is a Fellow of both the IEEE and the ACM.

Host: Fernando C. Colon Osorio
Refreshments will be served.

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Last modified: Sep 27, 2006, 16:05 EDT