Toward Nanoprocessor Thermodynamics

A hierarchical methodology for the determination of fundamental lower bounds on energy dissipation in nanoprocessors is described. The methodology aims to bridge computational description of nanoprocessors at the instruction-set-architecture level to their physical description at the level of dynamical laws and entropic inequalities. The ultimate objective is hierarchical sets of energy dissipation bounds for nanoprocessors that have the character and predictive force of thermodynamic laws and can be used to understand and evaluate the ultimate performance limits and resource requirements of future nanocomputing systems. The methodology is applied to a simple processor to demonstrate instruction- and architecture-level dissipation analyses.