Continuum computer architecture for nano-scale and ultra-high clock rate technologies

Abstract

Continuum computer architecture (CCA) is a non-von Neumann architecture that offers an alternative to conventional structures as digital technology evolves towards nano-scale and the ultimate flat-lining of Moore's law. Coincidentally, it also defines a model of architecture particularly well suited to logic classes that exhibit ultra-high clock rates (> 100 GHz) such as rapid single flux quantum (RSFQ) gates. CCA eliminates the concept of the "CPU" that has dominated computer architecture since its inception more than half a century ago and establishes a new local element that merges the properties of state storage, state transfer, and state operation. A CCA system architecture is a simple multidimensional organization of these elemental blocks and physically may be considered as a new family of cellular computer. But CCA differs dramatically from conventional cellular automata. While both deliver emergent global behavior from the aggregation of local rules and ensuing operation. The CCA emergent behavior is a global general-purpose model of parallel computation, as opposed to simply mimicking some limited phenomenon like heat and mass transfer as do conventional cellular automata. This paper presents the motivation and foundation concepts of CCA and exposes key issues for further work.