Mitigating dark-silicon problems using superlattice-based thermoelectric coolers

Abstract

Dark silicon is an emerging problem in multi-core processors, where it is not possible to enable all cores simultaneously because of either insufficient parallelism in software applications or because of high-spatial power densities that generate hot-spot constraints. Superlattice-based thermoelectric cooling (TEC) is a promising technology that offers large heat pumping capability and the ability to target hot spots of each core independently. In this paper, we devise novel system-level methods that address the two main sources of dark silicon using superlattice TECs. Our methods leverage the TECs in conjunction with dynamic voltage and frequency scaling and number of threads to maximize the performance of multi-core processor under thermal and power constraints. Using an experimental setup based on a quad-core processor, we provide an evaluation of the trade-offs among performance, temperature and power consumption arising from the use of superlattice-based TECs. Our results demonstrate the potential of this emerging cooling technology in mitigating dark silicon problems and in improving the performance of multi-core processors.