The Potential of On-Chip Multiprocessing for QCD Machines

We explore the opportunities offered by current and forthcoming VLSI technologies to on-chip multiprocessing for Quantum Chromo Dynamics (QCD), a computational grand challenge for which over half a dozen specialized machines have been developed over the last two decades. Based on a careful study of the information exchange requirements of QCD both across the network and within the memory system, we derive the optimal partition of die area between storage and functional units. We show that a scalable chip organization holds the promise to deliver from hundreds to thousands flop per cycle as VLSI feature size scales down from 90 nm to 20 nm, over the next dozen years.