Sharif Digital Repository

Although phase change memory with multi-bit storage capability (known as MLC PCM) offers a good combination of high bit-density and non-volatility, its performance is severely impacted by the increased read/write latency. Regarding read operation, access latency increases almost linearly with respect to cell density (the number of bits stored in a cell). Since reads are latency critical, they can seriously impact system performance. This paper alleviates the problem of slow reads in the MLC PCM by exploiting a fundamental property of MLC devices: the Most-Significant Bit (MSB) of MLC cells can be read as fast as SLC cells, while reading the Least-Significant Bits (LSBs) is slower. We propose... 

Newly developed 3D die stacking technologies affords us the possibility to revisit the idea of Processing-in-Memory (PIM) as implementation hurdles are overcome. We now have the opportunity to offload the data intensive parts of our program to the PIM in form of kernels to be able to take advantage of the high internal bandwidth of the memory modules. Memory access latency and bandwidth are two major bottlenecks in today’s high-performance computers and new use-cases are moving faster than ever before towards this mode of computing. With new graph processing and neural network applications being developed every day, having a performance model of such systems helps in predicting the behavior... 

This work presents a case for general support for processing-in-memory (PIM) in compilers and puts forth an approach to face it along with a simple model. The ultimate goal of the work is to implement the features in a general-purpose compiler that can compile for any homogeneous ISA system, so the benefits from PIM are not limited to niche use-cases. © 2013 IEEE