Reconfigurable Computing – Evolution of Von

Neumann Architecture
Prof. Shaojun Wei
Tsinghua University, China

With the rapid progress of semiconductor technology, billions transistors can be integrated on a single silicon chip.
However, increasing power consumption, complicated system function and huge investment will slow down the
development of process technology and impact the integrated circuit products. While technology goes toward to 22nm,
few companies can support the development of complicated chips and much less the fabs to manufacture them. A
configurable, programmable chip that can implement not only the necessary logic function but also the
computing/processing might be the next generation architecture. This presentation will start from classic Von Neumann
architecture, evolves it step by step toward to a reconfigurable chip architecture, and explore the possibility to develop a
multimedia processor for mobile applications. As semiconductor technology is being on a turning point, some strategies
will also be discussed.

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978-1-4244-8983-1/10/$26.00 ©2010 IEEE

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