IEDM looks to spin glasses and brain-like platforms

The International Electron Devices Meeting (IEDM) plans to expand its range of coverage for the 2019 event in San Francisco to encompass a range of novel computing platforms, from neuromorphic architectures to machines that emulate thermodynamic systems.

The conference has formed a subcommittee to look at emerging device and compute technologies that is co-chaird by Kuan Lun Cheng of TSMC and Imec’s Iuliana Radu.

The committee is seeking papers that support techniques such as neuromorphic emulation, quantum computing, continuous-time dynamic systems, and systems that emulate Ising spin-glass systems. This last category has become an interest of researchers who are working on a range of low-power systems that may form a stepping stone to full quantum computers. The systems perform optimization through a process of emulation that is similar to the formation of magnetic domains as a material cools. Some of these systems are thought to exploit quantum properties such as tunnelling although not all of them require that to function.

Other changes include the formation and realignment of subcommittees to look at memory, advanced logic, microwave, and power devices, as well as reliability issues at both device and system level.