Processor for calculating mathematical functions in parallel
View Patent ↗A three-dimensional processor (3D-processor) for calculating mathematical functions in parallel, comprises a larger number (e.g. at least one thousand) of computing elements, with each computing element comprising at least one three-dimensional memory (3D-M) array for storing at least a portion of a look-up table (LUT) for a mathematical function and an arithmetic logic circuit (ALC) for performing arithmetic operations on the LUT data. Even though each individual 3D-M cell is slower than a conventional two-dimensional memory (2D-M) cell, this deficiency in speed is offset by a significantly larger scale of parallelism.
1. A three-dimensional processor (3D-processor) for calculating mathematical functions in parallel, comprising a single semiconductor substrate and a plurality of computing elements, each of said computing elements comprising:
at least a three-dimensional memory (3D-M) array including memory cells above said semiconductor substrate and storing at least a portion of a look-up table (LUT) for a mathematical function;
an arithmetic logic circuit (ALC) on said semiconductor substrate for performing at least an arithmetic operation on selected data from said LUT; and,
a plurality of inter-storage-processor (ISP) connections for communicatively coupling said 3D-M array with said ALC;
wherein said semiconductor substrate comprises at least a single-crystalline semiconductor material; and, said memory cells do not comprise any single-crystalline semiconductor material.
2. The processor according to claim 1 , wherein said memory cells comprise at least a poly-crystalline or amorphous semiconductor material.
3. The processor according to claim 1 , wherein said plurality of computing elements include more than one thousand computing elements.
4. The processor according to claim 1 , wherein said ISP-connections include contact vias through no semiconductor substrate.
5. The processor according to claim 1 , wherein: each of said computing elements comprises at least one thousand ISP-connections; or, the length of said ISP-connections is on the order of microns.
6. The processor according to claim 1 , wherein said LUT includes functional values and/or derivative values of said mathematical function.
7. The processor according to claim 1 , wherein said mathematical function is a mathematical model.
8. The processor according to claim 7 , wherein said mathematical model includes raw measurement data or smoothed measurement data.
9. The processor according to claim 1 , wherein said mathematical function is a combination of at least two mathematical functions.
10. The processor according to claim 1 , wherein said mathematical function includes more operations than arithmetic operations performable by said ALC.
11. A three-dimensional processor (3D-processor) for calculating mathematical functions in parallel, comprising a single semiconductor substrate and a plurality of computing elements, each of said computing elements comprising:
at least a three-dimensional memory (3D-M) array including memory cells above said semiconductor substrate and storing at least a portion of a look-up table (LUT) for a mathematical function;
an arithmetic logic circuit (ALC) on said semiconductor substrate for performing at least an arithmetic operation on selected data from said LUT; and,
a plurality of inter-storage-processor (ISP) connections for communicatively coupling said 3D-M array with said ALC;
wherein said processor comprises at least one thousand computing elements; and, the total LUT capacity of said processor is more than one gigabit.
12. The processor according to claim 11 , wherein said semiconductor substrate comprises at least a single-crystalline semiconductor material; and, said memory cells do not comprise any single-crystalline semiconductor material.
13. The processor according to claim 12 , wherein said memory cells comprise at least a poly-crystalline or amorphous semiconductor material.
14. The processor according to claim 11 , wherein said ISP-connections include contact vias through no semiconductor substrate.
15. The processor according to claim 11 , wherein: each of said computing elements comprises at least one thousand ISP-connections; or, the length of said ISP-connections is on the order of microns.
16. The processor according to claim 11 , wherein said LUT includes functional values and/or derivative values of said mathematical function.
17. The processor according to claim 11 , wherein said mathematical function is a mathematical model.
18. The processor according to claim 17 , wherein said mathematical model includes raw measurement data or smoothed measurement data.
19. The processor according to claim 11 , wherein said mathematical function is a combination of at least two mathematical functions.
20. The processor according to claim 11 , wherein said mathematical function cannot be represented by a combination of arithmetic operations performable by said ALC.