darkNoC: Designing energy-efficient network-on-chip with multi-Vt cells for dark silicon

In this paper, we propose a novel NoC architecture, called dark-NoC, where multiple layers of architecturally identical, but physically different routers are integrated, leveraging the extra transistors available due to dark silicon . Each layer is separately optimized for a particular voltage-frequency range by the adroit use of multi-Vt circuit optimization. At a given time, only one of the network layers is illuminated while all the other network layers are dark. We provide architectural support for seamless integration of multiple network layers, and a fast inter-layer switching mechanism without dropping in-network packets. Our experiments on a 4 × 4 mesh with multi-programmed real application workloads show that darkNoC improves energy-delay product by up to 56% compared to a traditional single layer NoC with state-of-the-art DVFS. This illustrates darkNoC can be used as an energy-efficient communication fabric in future dark silicon chips.