A 1,632 Gate-Count Zero-Overhead Dynamic Optically Reconfigurable Gate Array VLSI

Abstract

A Zero-Overhead Dynamic Optically Reconfigurable Gate Array (ZO-DORGA), based on a concept using junction capacitance of photodiodes and load capacitance of gates constructing a gate array as configuration memory, has been proposed to realize a single instruction set computer that requires zero-overhead fast reconfiguration. To date, although the concept and architecture have been proposed and some simulation results of designs have been presented, a ZO-ORGA VLSI chip has never been fabricated. In this paper, the first 1,632 gate-count zero-overhead VLSI chip fabricated using 0.35 um CMOS process technology is presented. The 1,632 ZO-DORGA-VLSI is not only the first prototype VLSI chip; it is also the largest gate-count ORGA. Such a large gate count ORGA had never been fabricated until this study. The performance of ZO-DORGA-VLSI is clarified and discussed using experimental results.