CSL: Configurable Fault Tolerant Serial Links for Inter-die Communication in 3D Systems

International audienceThree dimensional (3D) integrated systems become a reality nowadays, as Thru-Silicon-Via (TSV) technologies mature. 3D integration promises significant performance and energy efficiency improvements by reducing the signal travel distances and integrating more capabilities on a single chip. High integration costs, thermal management, and poor reliability and yield are major challenges of TSV based 3D chips. High structural and parametric fault rates due to manufacturing defects makes it difficult to achieve high interconnect yield using only spare-based repair solutions. In this paper we address the TSV yield issue by implementing the inter-die links of 3D chips as Configurable fault-tolerant Serial Links (CSLs). When there are not enough available functional TSVs, faults are tolerated by performing data serialization. CSLs help reduce chip costs by improving the TSV yield with very few or no spares at all. For 3D Networks-on-Chip (3D NoCs) we show that the CSL yield improvement comes with moderate area overheads (~12-26%) and small performance penalties (less than 5% average latency overhead)

Fonio millet genome unlocks African orphan crop diversity for agriculture in a changing climate

International audienceSustainable food production in the context of climate change necessitates diversification of agriculture and a more efficient utilization of plant genetic resources. Fonio millet (Digitaria exilis) is an orphan African cereal crop with a great potential for dryland agriculture. Here, we establish high-quality genomic resources to facilitate fonio improvement through molecular breeding. These include a chromosome-scale reference assembly and deep re-sequencing of 183 cultivated and wild Digitaria accessions, enabling insights into genetic diversity, population structure, and domestication. Fonio diversity is shaped by climatic, geographic, and ethnolinguistic factors. Two genes associated with seed size and shattering showed signatures of selection. Most known domestication genes from other cereal models however have not experienced strong selection in fonio, providing direct targets to rapidly improve this crop for agriculture in hot and dry environments