STCO: driving the More than Moore era

Abstract

Denser CMOS technologies has been a catalyst for continuous miniaturization, driving large volumes at low-cost, enabling unprecedented system level innovations. With new AI/ML applications, there is a shift in momentum towards translating iso-frequency transistor count into architectural performance, such as accelerators, specialized ISA extensions, or lower precision number formats. However, future CMOS nodes will struggle to support this paradigm due to slower density scaling, increasing dollar/environmental costs and power density. This implies that system context becomes increasingly important to the technology definition, while demanding that application-driven system architectures be co-designed with technology. System Technology Co-optimization (STCO) is a promising paradigm, to plot a course for our industry along More than Moore system/technology roadmaps.