The desire for having a smaller-faster chip that does more than ever before, has led to shrinking feature size and growing integration density. This integration has left designers grappling with increasing concerns of signal-integrity (SI), timing- closure and power-consumption. Firstly, the shrinking feature size has resulted in greater delays. Further, the adjacent wires are now very close and cause Cross-talk to each other's signals. Traditional designs focus on protecting SI on long parallel wires. The SI designs accomodate the worst case delays of signals; while they aim to improve the worst-case delays at a circuit level using novel tricks, they are transparent to the actual data carried in the wires. Departing from this trend, this work aims to introduce an information theoretic approach to address data-integrity (DI). A novel approach for evaluating the data carrying capacity of long parallel wires is presented herein. This capacity is much greater than the data-rate achieved by SI designs. This work also proposes several practical designs with data-rate approaching this capacity.

Which came first, the system or the chip? While integrated circuits enable technology for the modern information age, computing, communication, and network chips fuel it. As soon as the integration ability of modern semiconductor technology offers presents opportunities, issues in power consumption, reliability, and form-factor present challenges. The demands of emerging software applications can only be met with unique systems and chips. Drawing on contributors from academia, research, and industry, Unique Systems and Chips explores unique approaches to designing future computing and communication chips and systems. The book focuses on specialized hardware and systems as opposed to general-purpose chips and systems. It covers early conception and simulation, mid-development, application, testing, and performance. The chapter authors introduce new ideas and innovations in unique aspects of chips and system design, then go on to provide in-depth analysis of these ideas. They explore ways in which these chips and systems may be used in further designs or products, spurring innovations beyond the intended scopes of those presented. International in flavor, the book brings industrial and academic perspectives into focus by presenting the full spectrum of applications of chips and systems.