Enabling Dynamic Voltage & Frequency Scaling in next-generation microprocessors: Thermal & reliability considerations

With each advancing generation of process technology, the CPU power continues to rise, creating additional issues for thermal/mechanical packaging design. A common therme in next-generation CPU offerings will be the use of dynamic voltage and frequency. Scaling (DVFS) to manage the chip power during operation. With a DVFS policy, it becomes all the more important to study the potential impacts of imposed temporal variation in power on the thermo-mechanical reliability. In this study, we demonstrate a system identification approach for a practical CPU application and exemplify the trade-offs involved in creating a DVFS policy that is satisfactory to both thermal/mechanical reliability engineers and CPU design teams.