Superconductive Electronics for PetaFLOPS Computing

Superconductivity offers unique and quite important performance features to future supercomputing systems. The logic gates operate with picosecond ( sec) delays while dissipating microwatts of power. Second, since the conductors have zero resistance at DC and very low loss at multi-gigahertz frequencies, it is possible to exploit very wide-band, impedance-matched transmission lines (a) on-chip, (b) between chips and (c) between multichip modules (MCMs). In combination, these features enable the construction of a supercomputer processor with a multi-gigahertz clock rate. The very low power consumption allows it to have a very small size, greatly alleviating the ``time-of-flight'' problem inherent in multi-gigahertz clock systems. The device technology and the other necessary building blocks are sufficiently advanced today that a program to integrate them into a demonstration system should be established. The essential hardware ingredients required to assemble a machine based upon superconductivity are logic, memory, and interconnect.

• Logic
• Memory
• Interconnects
  • On-chip
  • Chip-to-Chip
  • MCM-to-Room Temperature Connection
• Physical Limits
• Barriers/Obstacles
  • R&Dto Overcome Barriers and Obstacles