Reaction-diffusion chip implementing analog cellular-automaton model

TL;DR: An RD chip based on an analog cellular-automaton model is described, which represents the first step toward solving the modelock phenomenon in GHz-clock speed LSI.

Abstract: In GHz-clock speed LSI, clock skew and phase-lagged stable synchronous patterns called modelock are generated using random process variations and RC delays in the clock line [1]. Once this phenomenon occurs, a system will fail because clock-distribution circuits cannot operate in sync. It takes a long time to simulate the phenomenon because of a large number of calculations for nonlinear partial differential equations. Similar phenomena that produce a variety of orders, rhythms, and self-organizing are often observed in nature. A reactiondiffusion (RD) system is a lively, dynamic system that produces such phenomena [2]. Our purpose was to make a hardware accelerator to calculate the modelock phenomenon at a high speed. We describe an RD chip based on an analog cellular-automaton model, which represents our first step toward this goal.