Abstract
Energy efficiency has become a leading design consideration in modern VLSI systems, ranging from ultra-low power processors for mobile applications to high-performance servers for scientific and “cloud computing” applications. Until recently, the consistent feature-scaling of semiconductor devices (Dennard scaling) enabled simultaneous improvements in performance and energy efficiency. With the breakdown of Dennard scaling however, further improvements in energy efficiency will have to be driven by advances in software, architecture, and circuit/system design. These improvements are essential for sustained growth in compute performance, as well as for enabling new applications through the availability of computing and communication systems with ultra-low energy requirements. In this talk, I will present some of my research on key circuit/system technologies for energy-efficient VLSI systems, including resonant clocking, supply droop mitigation, and integrated voltage regulation. I will also discuss future research directions which will contribute towards enabling the increasingly sophisticated and energy-efficient VLSI systems of the future.
Biography
Visvesh Sathe joined UW EE this year. Dr. Sathe received the B.Tech degree from the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay in 2001, and the M.S and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor in 2004 and 2007, respectively. Prior to joining the faculty at the University of Washington, he served as a Member of Technical Staff in the Low-Power Advanced Development Group at AMD, where his research focused on inventing and developing new technologies for energy-efficient computing. Dr. Sathe has led the research and development effort at AMD that resulted in the first-ever resonant clocked commercial microprocessor. In addition, several of his other inventions have been adopted for use in future-generation microprocessors. His current research interests include next-generation clocking circuits and architectures, integrated voltage regulation, ultra-low voltage design and self-optimizing systems. In the past, he has conducted research in the areas of adiabatic computing, adaptive circuit design, and power supply distribution and conversion. Dr. Sathe has authored over 20 publications, including 4 invited papers and holds 6 patents, with several others pending. His doctoral thesis was selected as the best dissertation in EECS for 2007 and was nominated for the Rackham Graduate School Distinguished Dissertation Award at the University of Michigan. He is a member of the Technical Program Committees of the Custom Integrated Circuits Conference, and the International Conference on VLSI Design.
