More Like this

1. DMR-SCL: A Design and Verification Framework for Redundancy-Based Resilient Asynchronous Sleep Convention Logic Circuits

   https://doi.org/10.3390/electronics14050884  

   Datta, Mithun; Mazumder, Dipayan; Bodoh, Alexander C; Sakib, Ashiq A (March 2025, Electronics)

   The digital integrated circuit (IC) design industry is continuously evolving. However, the rapid advancements in technology are accompanied by major reliability concerns. Conventional clock-based synchronous designs become exceedingly susceptible to transient errors, caused by radiation rays, power jitters, electromagnetic interferences (EMIs), and/or other noise sources, primarily due to aggressive device and voltage scaling. quasi-delay-insensitive (QDI) asynchronous (clockless) circuits demonstrate inherent robustness against such transient errors, owing to their unique architecture. However, they are not completely immune. This article presents a hardened QDI Sleep Convention Logic (SCL) asynchronous architecture, which can fully recover from radiation-induced single-event effects such as single-event upset (SEU) and single-event latch-up (SEL). Multiple benchmark circuits are designed based on the proposed architecture. The simulation results indicate that the proposed designs offer substantial energy savings per operation, dissipate substantially less power during idle phases, and have lower area footprints in comparison to designs based on an existing resilient Null Convention Logic (NCL) architecture at the cost of increased latency. In addition, a formal verification framework for the proposed architecture is also presented. The performance and scalability of the proposed verification scheme are demonstrated using several multiplier benchmark circuits of varying width. 

   more » « less
2. Latch-free Synchronization in Database Systems: Silver Bullet or Fool's Gold?

   Faleiro, Jose M; Abadi, Daniel J (January 2017, CIDR (Conference on Innovative Data Systems Research))

   Recent research on multi-core database architectures has made the argument that, when possible, database systems should abandon the use of latches in favor of latch-free algorithms. Latch-based algorithms are thought to scale poorly due to their use of synchronization based on mutual exclusion. In contrast, latch-free algorithms make strong theoretical guarantees which ensure that the progress of a thread is never impeded due to the delay or failure of other threads. In this paper, we analyze the various factors that influence the performance and scalability of latch-free and latch-based algorithms, and perform a microbenchmark evaluation of latch-free and latch-based synchronization algorithms. Our findings indicate that the argument for latch-free algorithms’ superior scalability is far more nuanced than the current state-of-the-art in multi-core database architectures suggests. 

   more » « less
3. Exquisite energetics of spring-propelled, latch-mediated movements

   Patek, Sheila Patek; Cox, Suzanne; Ilton, Mark; Porter, Megan (March 2023, Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology)

   Ultrafast organisms exemplify how biological systems manipulate and control energy to generate spectacularly diverse movements. Across the tree of life, repeateduse, ultrafastmovements are driven by springs and controlled by opposing, latch-like forces. We focus on the biomechanical processes that sequentially reduce the duration of each energetic event to yield intense mechanical power density - often external to the organism to reduce self-damage.We leverage a new model system of young, transparent mantis shrimp (Stomatopoda) to quantify the timing and dynamics of muscle contraction, storage of elastic potential energy, latch engagement and release, and the levers and linkages that transform elastic potential to kinetic energy of their ultrafast strikes. We examine how the convergence of physical limits and inherent evolutionary integration of biomechanical structures yield generalizable features of energy storage and energy delivery, such that these mechanisms occur exclusively in small systems.While ultrafast organisms have historically been invisibly fast to science, today’s technology and new model systems have unveiled effective experimental approaches to quantifying energetic control and manipulation in these intriguing biomechanical systems. 

   more » « less
4. A Single-Clock-Phase Sense Amplifier Architecture with 9x Smaller Clock-to-Q Delay Compared to the StrongARM & 6.3dB Lower Noise Compared to Double-Tail

   https://doi.org/10.1109/VLSITechnologyandCir46769.2022.9830355  

   Lin, X.; Megahed, M.; Anand, T. (June 2022, International Symposium on VLSI Technology Systems and Application)

   A single-clock-phase sense amplifier architecture with a strong regeneration is proposed. Designed in 22nm FinFET, the proposed architecture has a 9x smaller t CQ delay compared to the conventional StrongARM latch and 6.3dB lower input referred noise compared to the Double-Tail architecture for similar input transistor size and power consumption. 

   more » « less
5. The ultrafast snap of a finger is mediated by skin friction

   https://doi.org/10.1098/rsif.2021.0672  

   Acharya, Raghav; Challita, Elio J.; Ilton, Mark; Saad Bhamla, M. (November 2021, Journal of The Royal Society Interface)

   null (Ed.)

   The snap of a finger has been used as a form of communication and music for millennia across human cultures. However, a systematic analysis of the dynamics of this rapid motion has not yet been performed. Using high-speed imaging and force sensors, we analyse the dynamics of the finger snap. We discover that the finger snap achieves peak angular accelerations of 1.6 × 10 6 ° s −2 in 7 ms, making it one of the fastest recorded angular accelerations the human body produces (exceeding professional baseball pitches). Our analysis reveals the central role of skin friction in mediating the snap dynamics by acting as a latch to control the resulting high velocities and accelerations. We evaluate the role of this frictional latch experimentally, by covering the thumb and middle finger with different materials to produce different friction coefficients and varying compressibility. In doing so, we reveal that the compressible, frictional latch of the finger pads likely operates in a regime optimally tuned for both friction and compression. We also develop a soft, compressible friction-based latch-mediated spring actuated model to further elucidate the key role of friction and how it interacts with a compressible latch. Our mathematical model reveals that friction plays a dual role in the finger snap, both aiding in force loading and energy storage while hindering energy release. Our work reveals how friction between surfaces can be harnessed as a tunable latch system and provides design insight towards the frictional complexity in many robotic and ultra-fast energy-release structures. 

   more » « less