High-Speed Data Transmission Technology for the NEC SX-9

Abstract

The SX Series has an advanced architecture of large-scale shared memory, high-speed data transfer between the CPU and the memory, and an ultra high speed network interconnecting nodes. One of its key technologies in achieving high system efficiency is the fast data transmission between LSIs making up the system, which highly relies on the LSI and circuit technologies, as well as their inspection technologies. NEC has developed sophisticated technologies for CMOS, high-speed interface for efficient data transfer, high speed and low skew clock distribution, and noise reduction. This paper outlines key technologies that enable high performance of the SX-9 supercomputer on real scientific applications from the view point of fundamental technologies.