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Summary: Published in the Proceedings of the 32nd International Symposium on Microarchitecture, November 1999.
DIVA: A Reliable Substrate for
Deep Submicron Microarchitecture Design
Todd M. Austin½
Advanced Computer Architecture Laboratory
University of Michigan
taustin@eecs.umich.edu
Abstract
Building a high-performance microprocessor presents
many reliability challenges. Designers must verify the cor-
rectness of large complex systems and construct implemen-
tations that work reliably in varied (and occasionally ad-
verse) operating conditions. To further complicate this task,
deep submicron fabrication technologies present new relia-
bility challenges in the form of degraded signal quality and
logic failures caused by natural radiation interference.
In this paper, we introduce dynamic verification, a novel
microarchitectural technique that can significantly reduce
the burden of correctness in microprocessor designs. The
approach works by augmenting the commit phase of the
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