Detecting architectural vulnerability of processor resources

Abstract

In one embodiment, a quantum detector is provided to detect a vulnerability measure for a processor based on a processor metrics each associated with operation of a processor structure during a quantum, along with a controller to control an error mitigation unit based on the vulnerability measure. Other embodiments are described and claimed.

Description

Technical field [0001] The invention relates to detecting the structural vulnerability of processor resources. Background technique [0002] For processor designers, soft errors caused mainly by radiation caused by neutron particles have become a major problem. Since this type of error does not reflect a permanent failure of the device, it is called a soft error or transient error. These bit upsets from transient errors are an addition to those caused by alpha particles from bumps and packaging materials. It is expected that in the next few generations of chips, the exponential increase in the number of transistors on a single chip and aggressive voltage scaling will make this problem worse. [0003] In order to solve the cosmic ray attack, some methods try to use some form of error detection (such as parity check) to protect a large part of all the latches in the processor or other semiconductor devices. Similarly, most major arrays in high-performance microprocessors, such as c...

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As a result, the power and performance cost of this mechanism is a fixed penalty

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