Coming challenges in microarchitecture and architecture

In the past several decades, the world of computers and especially that of microprocessors has witnessed phenomenal advances. Computers have exhibited el,er-increasing performance and decreasing costs, making them more afford able and, in rum, accelerating additional software and hardware development that fueled this process even more. The technology that enabled this expon ential growth is a combination of advancements in process technology, micro architecture, architecture. and design and development reals. While the pac e of this progress has been quire impressive over the last two decades, it has become harder and harder to keep up this pace, New process technology r equires more expensive megafabs and neu performance levels require larger d ie, higher power consumption, and enormous design and validation effort. Fu rthermore, as CMOS technology continues to advance, microprocessor design i s exposed to a new set of challenges, In the near future, microarchitecture has to consider and explicitly manage the limits of semiconductor technolo gy such as wire delays, power dissipation, and soft errors, In this paper c r e describe the role of microarchitecture in the computer world, present t he challenges ahead of us, and highlight areas where microarchitecture can help address these challenges.