Title :
A family of 45nm IA processors
Author :
Kumar, Rajesh ; Hinton, Glenn
Author_Institution :
Intel, Hillsboro, OR, USA
Abstract :
Nehalem is a family of next-generation IA processors for mobile, desktop and server segments implemented in 45nm high-kappa metal-gate CMOS. The family features a new system architecture, significantly enhanced Core architecture, innovations in power management and modular design. The 4-core 8MB-L3-cache die has 731M transistors. We introduce a coherent point-to- point link called QuickPath Interconnect that is the foundation for coherent communication between IA processors, chipsets, I/O hubs and coprocessors/accelerators for multiple generations. It features advanced power management, RAS capabilities and reduced hops/latency. At the physical level, it uses unidirectional variable-width differential signaling. The 45nm implementation features current-mode signaling with cascode driver, clock forwarding, source and sink termination, per-bit skew compensation and 2-tap driver equalization. Signaling speed is up to 6.4GT/S in 45nm but the basic approach scales to 20GT/s using conventional copper interconnect.
Keywords :
CMOS integrated circuits; interconnections; microprocessor chips; QuickPath interconnect; cascode driver; current-mode signaling; enhanced core architecture; high-kappa metal-gate CMOS; next-generation IA processors; point-to-point link; power management; size 45 nm; system architecture; transistors; unidirectional variable-width differential signaling; CMOS process; Clocks; Coprocessors; Delay; Energy management; Innovation management; Power system interconnection; Power system management; Technological innovation; Transistors;
Conference_Titel :
Solid-State Circuits Conference - Digest of Technical Papers, 2009. ISSCC 2009. IEEE International
Conference_Location :
San Francisco, CA
Print_ISBN :
978-1-4244-3458-9
DOI :
10.1109/ISSCC.2009.4977306
