Calibration-Free Edge-Computing IMC Macro With Direct Current-to-Digital Conversion

IF 4.9 2区工程技术 Q2 ENGINEERING, ELECTRICAL & ELECTRONIC

IEEE Transactions on Circuits and Systems II: Express Briefs Pub Date : 2025-06-19 DOI:10.1109/TCSII.2025.3581384

Andrea Fasolino;Rosalba Liguori;Luigi Di Benedetto;Alfredo Rubino;Gian Domenico Licciardo

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Abstract

In-memory computing (IMC) has emerged as a promising solution to the “memory wall” problem of traditional Von Neumann architectures by integrating computation directly within the memory. This brief presents a novel current-mode IMC macro that leverages a nanoampere-range temperature-independent reference current and direct current-to-digital conversion. The proposed design mitigates power inefficiencies and thermal instability of previous architectures without the need for calibration. Implemented in TSMC LP 65 nm CMOS technology, the design achieves an energy efficiency of 310.7 TOPS/W and an area efficiency of 18.93 TOPS/mm2. The reference current generator ensures a temperature coefficient of just 363 ppm/°C over a temperature

$\in $

[-10; 115]° C. Using a VGG-6 model on the CIFAR-10 dataset with 87.93% accuracy, the drop between the software baseline model and IMC hardware (1bA/1bW/5bO) at TT@27°C/FF@115°C/SS@-10°C is 0.17/0.32/0.51%.

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具有直流数字转换的免校准边缘计算IMC宏

内存计算（IMC）通过将计算直接集成到内存中，已经成为解决传统冯·诺依曼架构“内存墙”问题的一种有前途的解决方案。本文介绍了一种新颖的电流模式IMC宏，它利用纳米安培范围的温度无关参考电流和直流数字转换。提出的设计在不需要校准的情况下减轻了以前架构的功率低效率和热不稳定性。该设计采用台积电LP 65nm CMOS技术，实现了310.7 TOPS/W的能量效率和18.93 TOPS/mm2的面积效率。参考电流发生器确保温度系数仅为363 ppm/°C在温度$\in $ [-10；在CIFAR-10数据集上使用精度为87.93%的VGG-6模型，在TT@27°C/FF@115°C/SS@-10°C时，软件基线模型与IMC硬件（1bA/1bW/5bO）之间的差值为0.17/0.32/0.51%。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

IEEE Transactions on Circuits and Systems II: Express Briefs 工程技术-工程：电子与电气

CiteScore

7.90

自引率

20.50%

发文量

883

审稿时长

3.0 months

期刊介绍： TCAS II publishes brief papers in the field specified by the theory, analysis, design, and practical implementations of circuits, and the application of circuit techniques to systems and to signal processing. Included is the whole spectrum from basic scientific theory to industrial applications. The field of interest covered includes: Circuits: Analog, Digital and Mixed Signal Circuits and Systems Nonlinear Circuits and Systems, Integrated Sensors, MEMS and Systems on Chip, Nanoscale Circuits and Systems, Optoelectronic Circuits and Systems, Power Electronics and Systems Software for Analog-and-Logic Circuits and Systems Control aspects of Circuits and Systems.