GA144 144-computer Chip

The chip measures 4.7 x 4.5 mm in a 180 nm process. That size was chosen because it is the largest chip we can presently package in the 10x10 mm QFN-88. 104 pads border the chip (16 ground pads connect to the exposed die attach paddle; 16 power pads and 72 signal pads connect to the 88 pins on the edges of the package) and 8 rows of 18 computers fit inside.

Low power results from our computer (one node of an array) being asynchronous (unclocked). Low energy results when each of the 144 computers is executing instructions only when it actually has something to do. Spec sheets will be forthcoming. Meanwhile this list of features should prove impressive. Bill Muench composed a handy poster with much info.

GA144 has 88 pins. Pins are numbered counter-clockwise from upper left.

18 pins for RAM data: 1 2 3 8 9 10 11 12 13 16 21 22 23 24 25 30 31 32

18 pins for RAM address: 37 38 39 42 43 44 45 46 53 54 55 56 57 58 65 66 67 68

16 pins for Vdd (1.8 V): 4 5 17 19 28 29 40 41 47 49 62 64 74 75 82 83

Vss is the ground/heat-sink on the bottom of the package.

Vss is the ground/heat-sink on the bottom of the package. Reset: 88

25 digital I/O: 6 7 14 15 18 20 26 27 33 34 35 36 51 52 59 60 71 78 79 80 81 84 85 86 87

5 D/A outputs: 50 63 70 72 77

5 A/D inputs: 48 61 69 73 76

22 of the edge computers have one or more I/O pins, with specialized ROM; six of these are capable of being used to boot the chip after reset. The 96 interior computers, and the 26 edge computers that don't have I/O pins, all have the same ROM with five exceptions noted below. Any of the 144 computers may be used as compute engines, as wires to pass messages, or simply left fallow with minimal power leakage; the 22 edge computers with I/O pins are assigned nominal functions based on their ROM and I/O pads. These nominal functions are as follow, by three digit node number:

001: digital 26 27; SerDes (BOOT)

007: RAM data (Nodes 007,8,9 have ROM support for external SDRAM)

008: RAM control 33 34 35 36

009: RAM address

100: digital 20

117: analog 48 50

200: digital 18; 1wire (BOOT)

217: digital 51 (analog trigger for 117)

300: digital 14 15; Sync (BOOT)

317: digital 52

417: digital 59

500: digital 7

517: digital 60 (analog trigger for 617)

600: digital 6

617: analog 61 63

701: digital 86 87; SerDes (BOOT)

705: digital 80 81 84 85; SPI (BOOT)

708: digital 78 79; Async RS232 compatible (BOOT)

709: analog 76 77

713: analog 73 72

715: digital 71 (analog trigger for 709,13,17)

717: analog 69 70

Features