Chip aging is becoming an even bigger concern within the data center, impacting server uptime events, utilization, and the energy needed to drive signals and cool the entire server architecture. Chip aging is the result of increased logic utilization and increased transistor density, which is a problem for data centers and even more severe for AI chips that need to run digital logic at maximum speed.
For data centers, chip aging presents a number of challenges:
1. Decreased server uptime and utilization: As the chip ages, its performance gradually decreases, resulting in a decrease in the server's ability to handle tasks, which affects the server's uptime and utilization. Data centers require more resources to maintain the same level of performance, increasing operational costs and complexity.
2. Increased energy consumption: Aging chips can lead to an increase in the energy required for drive signals and cooling. On the one hand, it may take more energy to complete the same task due to reduced performance; On the other hand, in order to keep the chip operating within an acceptable temperature range, it may be necessary to increase the energy consumption of the cooling system.
3. Thermal management challenges: Chip aging is often accompanied by an increase in heat generation, which brings challenges to thermal management in data centers. Frequent thermal cycling and thermal stress can further accelerate chip aging, creating a vicious cycle. Engineers need to address these challenges with advanced thermal management techniques such as load balancing, real-time monitoring and regulation, thermal modeling and simulation, and customized cooling solutions.
4. Reduced reliability: Aging chips are more prone to failure, resulting in reduced reliability in data centers. This can lead to data loss, service disruptions, and extended recovery times, negatively impacting business operations and customer satisfaction.
Figure: A problem that cannot be ignored in data centers: chip aging
In response to the above impacts, data centers need to take a series of measures to deal with chip aging:
1. Thermal Management Optimization:
Load balancing: Load balancing within chips, between chips, and between servers ensures that heat is evenly distributed and that certain areas do not overheat.
2. Real-time monitoring and adjustment: Monitor heat and data speed in real time through sensors, and dynamically adjust workloads and cooling schemes based on real-time data.
3. Use advanced packaging technology:
Examples include 3D packaging and heterogeneous integration technologies, which help improve the thermal management and aging control capabilities of chips.
4. AI-driven prediction and maintenance:
Artificial intelligence technology is used to carry out more accurate aging prediction and maintenance planning, and improve the operational efficiency and stability of data centers by predicting potential failures and carrying out preventive maintenance in advance.
5. Establish a chip aging map:
Analyze chips using libraries with different aging states to predict the performance changes of chips at different time points such as 1 year, 5 years, 10 years, and 15 years. Dynamically adjust the working state and cooling scheme of the chip according to the actual workload and temperature conditions.
6. Lay out the sensor network within the chip:
Monitor chip health in real time through a dense network of sensors, predict potential failures, and take timely measures for maintenance.
7. Chip Replacement and Upgrade:
Regularly check the status of the chip, and replace the chip with serious aging in time. At the same time, consider upgrading the chips in the data center to use more advanced chip technology to improve performance and reliability.
Chip aging is a process that involves a combination of factors, including electronic device aging, heat accumulation, voltage instability, environmental factors, electron migration, wear, and dynamic aging. In order to extend the service life and improve the reliability of chips, these factors need to be considered comprehensively in the design, manufacturing and use process, and corresponding measures should be taken to manage and control them.
