TY - GEN A1 - Wen, Jianan A1 - Baroni, Andrea A1 - Perez, Eduardo A1 - Uhlmann, Max A1 - Fritscher, Markus A1 - KrishneGowda, Karthik A1 - Ulbricht, Markus A1 - Wenger, Christian A1 - Krstic, Milos T1 - Towards reliable and energy-efficient RRAM based discrete fourier transform accelerator T2 - 2024 Design, Automation & Test in Europe Conference & Exhibition (DATE) N2 - The Discrete Fourier Transform (DFT) holds a prominent place in the field of signal processing. The development of DFT accelerators in edge devices requires high energy efficiency due to the limited battery capacity. In this context, emerging devices such as resistive RAM (RRAM) provide a promising solution. They enable the design of high-density crossbar arrays and facilitate massively parallel and in situ computations within memory. However, the reliability and performance of the RRAM-based systems are compromised by the device non-idealities, especially when executing DFT computations that demand high precision. In this paper, we propose a novel adaptive variability-aware crossbar mapping scheme to address the computational errors caused by the device variability. To quantitatively assess the impact of variability in a communication scenario, we implemented an end-to-end simulation framework integrating the modulation and demodulation schemes. When combining the presented mapping scheme with an optimized architecture to compute DFT and inverse DFT(IDFT), compared to the state-of-the-art architecture, our simulation results demonstrate energy and area savings of up to 57 % and 18 %, respectively. Meanwhile, the DFT matrix mapping error is reduced by 83% compared to conventional mapping. In a case study involving 16-quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM), with the optimized architecture prioritizing energy efficiency, we observed a bit error rate (BER) reduction from 1.6e-2 to 7.3e-5. As for the conventional architecture, the BER is optimized from 2.9e-3 to zero. KW - RRAM Y1 - 2024 SN - 978-3-9819263-8-5 SN - 979-8-3503-4860-6 U6 - https://doi.org/10.23919/DATE58400.2024.10546709 SN - 1558-1101 SP - 1 EP - 6 PB - IEEE ER - TY - GEN A1 - Fritscher, Markus A1 - Singh, Simranjeet A1 - Rizzi, Tommaso A1 - Baroni, Andrea A1 - Reiser, Daniel A1 - Mallah, Maen A1 - Hartmann, David A1 - Bende, Ankit A1 - Kempen, Tim A1 - Uhlmann, Max A1 - Kahmen, Gerhard A1 - Fey, Dietmar A1 - Rana, Vikas A1 - Menzel, Stephan A1 - Reichenbach, Marc A1 - Krstic, Milos A1 - Merchant, Farhad A1 - Wenger, Christian T1 - A flexible and fast digital twin for RRAM systems applied for training resilient neural networks T2 - Scientific Reports N2 - Resistive Random Access Memory (RRAM) has gained considerable momentum due to its non-volatility and energy efficiency. Material and device scientists have been proposing novel material stacks that can mimic the “ideal memristor” which can deliver performance, energy efficiency, reliability and accuracy. However, designing RRAM-based systems is challenging. Engineering a new material stack, designing a device, and experimenting takes significant time for material and device researchers. Furthermore, the acceptability of the device is ultimately decided at the system level. We see a gap here where there is a need for facilitating material and device researchers with a “push button” modeling framework that allows to evaluate the efficacy of the device at system level during early device design stages. Speed, accuracy, and adaptability are the fundamental requirements of this modelling framework. In this paper, we propose a digital twin (DT)-like modeling framework that automatically creates RRAM device models from device measurement data. Furthermore, the model incorporates the peripheral circuit to ensure accurate energy and performance evaluations. We demonstrate the DT generation and DT usage for multiple RRAM technologies and applications and illustrate the achieved performance of our GPU implementation. We conclude with the application of our modeling approach to measurement data from two distinct fabricated devices, validating its effectiveness in a neural network processing an Electrocardiogram (ECG) dataset and incorporating Fault Aware Training (FAT). KW - RRAM KW - Neural network KW - digital twin Y1 - 2024 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-024-73439-z SN - 2045-2322 VL - 14 IS - 1 PB - Springer Science and Business Media LLC ER - TY - GEN A1 - Fritscher, Markus A1 - Wenger, Christian A1 - Krstic, Milos T1 - From device to application - integrating RRAM Accelerator Blocks into large AI systems T2 - 2024 IEEE Computer Society Annual Symposium on VLSI (ISVLSI) N2 - This work provides an introduction to design methodologies for RRAM-based systems. We illustrate the impact of device variation on the performance of neural networks and propose a circuit-level integration approach for RRAM-based compute blocks. Moreover, we demonstrate a possible architectural integration by incorporating RRAM-based VMM blocks fabricated in a 130 nm CMOS process into a RISC-V. KW - RRAM Y1 - 2024 SN - 979-8-3503-5411-9 SN - 979-8-3503-5412-6 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1109/ISVLSI61997.2024.00111 SN - 2159-3477 SP - 592 EP - 592 PB - IEEE ER - TY - GEN A1 - Fritscher, Markus A1 - Uhlmann, Max A1 - Ostrovskyy, Philip A1 - Reiser, Daniel A1 - Chen, Junchao A1 - Schubert, Andreas A1 - Schulze, Carsten A1 - Kahmen, Gerhard A1 - Fey, Dietmar A1 - Reichenbach, Marc A1 - Krstic, Milos A1 - Wenger, Christian T1 - Area-efficient digital design using RRAM-CMOS standard cells T2 - 2024 IEEE Computer Society Annual Symposium on VLSI (ISVLSI) N2 - Extending the scalability of digital integrated circuits through novel device concepts is an attractive option. Among these concepts, resistive random access memory (RRAM) devices allow fast and nonvolatile operation. However, building large memristive systems is still challenging since large analog circuits have to be designed and integrated. In this paper, we propose a novel solution - the implementation of digital standard cells by the means of RRAM devices. While this methodology is universal, with applications ranging from few-device-circuits to large macroblocks, we demonstrate it for a 2T2R-cell. The benefits of using RRAM devices are demonstrated by implementing a NAND standard cell merely consuming the area of two transistors. This cell is about 25 % smaller than the equivalent CMOS NAND in the same technology. We use these cells to implement a half adder, beating the area of the equivalent CMOS implementation using more sophisticates gates by 15 %. Lastly, we fully integrate this novel standard cell into a digital standard cell library and perform a synthesis and layout of a RISC-V CPU core. KW - RRAM Y1 - 2024 SN - 979-8-3503-5411-9 SN - 979-8-3503-5412-6 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1109/ISVLSI61997.2024.00026 SN - 2159-3477 VL - 18 SP - 81 EP - 87 PB - IEEE ER - TY - GEN A1 - Vishwakarma, Abhinav A1 - Fritscher, Markus A1 - Hagelauer, Amelie A1 - Reichenbach, Marc T1 - An RRAM-based building block for reprogrammable non-uniform sampling ADCs T2 - Information Technology : it Y1 - 2023 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1515/itit-2023-0021 SN - 2196-7032 VL - 65 IS - 1-2 SP - 39 EP - 51 ER - TY - GEN A1 - Spetzler, Benjamin A1 - Fritscher, Markus A1 - Park, Seongae A1 - Kim, Nayoun A1 - Wenger, Christian A1 - Ziegler, Martin T1 - AI-driven model for optimized pulse programming of memristive devices T2 - APL Machine Learning N2 - Next-generation artificial intelligence (AI) hardware based on memristive devices offers a promising approach to reducing the increasingly large energy consumption of AI applications. However, programming memristive AI hardware to achieve a desired synaptic weight configuration remains challenging because it requires accurate and energy-efficient algorithms for selecting the optimal weight-update pulses. Here, we present a computationally efficient AI model for predicting the weight update of memristive devices and guiding device programming. The synaptic weight-update behavior of bilayer HfO2/TiO2 memristive devices is characterized over a range of pulse parameters to provide experimental data for the AI model. Three different artificial neural network (ANN) configurations are trained and evaluated regarding the amount of training data required for accurate predictions and the computational costs. Finally, we apply the model to an antipulse weight-update process to demonstrate its performance. The results show that accurate and computationally inexpensive predictions are possible with comparatively few datasets and small ANNs. The normalized weight-update processes are predicted with accuracies comparable with larger model architectures but require only 896 floating point operations and 8.33 nJ per inference. This makes the model a promising candidate for integration into AI-driven device controllers as a precise and energy-efficient solution for memristive device programming. KW - RRAM KW - Neural network KW - Device model Y1 - 2025 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0251113 SN - 2770-9019 VL - 3 IS - 2 SP - 1 EP - 7 PB - AIP Publishing ER - TY - GEN A1 - Fritscher, Markus A1 - Uhlmann, Max A1 - Ostrovskyy, Philip A1 - Reiser, Daniel A1 - Chen, Junchao A1 - Wen, Jianan A1 - Schulze, Carsten A1 - Kahmen, Gerhard A1 - Fey, Dietmar A1 - Reichenbach, Marc A1 - Krstic, Milos A1 - Wenger, Christian ED - Wenger, Christian T1 - RISC-V CPU design using RRAM-CMOS standard cells T2 - IEEE transactions on very large scale integration (VLSI) systems N2 - The breakdown of Dennard scaling has been the driver for many innovations such as multicore CPUs and has fueled the research into novel devices such as resistive random access memory (RRAM). These devices might be a means to extend the scalability of integrated circuits since they allow for fast and nonvolatile operation. Unfortunately, large analog circuits need to be designed and integrated in order to benefit from these cells, hindering the implementation of large systems. This work elaborates on a novel solution, namely, creating digital standard cells utilizing RRAM devices. Albeit this approach can be used both for small gates and large macroblocks, we illustrate it for a 2T2R-cell. Since RRAM devices can be vertically stacked with transistors, this enables us to construct a nand standard cell, which merely consumes the area of two transistors. This leads to a 25% area reduction compared to an equivalent CMOS nand gate. We illustrate achievable area savings with a half-adder circuit and integrate this novel cell into a digital standard cell library. A synthesized RISC-V core using RRAM-based cells results in a 10.7% smaller area than the equivalent design using standard CMOS gates. KW - RRAM KW - Logic gates Y1 - 2025 UR - https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/10960690 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1109/TVLSI.2025.3554476 SN - 1063-8210 SP - 1 EP - 9 PB - Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) CY - New York ER -