Towards a Robust Multiply-Accumulate Cell in Photonics using Phase-Change Materials
In this paper we propose a novel approach to multiply-accumulate (MAC) operations in photonics. This approach is based on stochastic computing and on the dynamic behavior of phase-change materials (PCMs), leading to the unique characteristic of automatically storing the result in non-volatile memory. We demonstrate that, even with perfect look-up tables, the standard approach to PCM scalar multiplication is highly susceptible to perturbations as small as 0.1% of the input power, causing repetitive peaks of 600% relative error. In the same operating conditions, the proposed method achieves an average of 7× improvement in precision.
Citation
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@article{raphael2023338d3461f0b9e0522fb6c75c043460255f5f88b6,
title = {Towards a Robust Multiply-Accumulate Cell in Photonics using Phase-Change Materials},
author = {Raphael Cardoso and Clément Zrounba and M.F. Abdalla and Paul Jiménez and Mauricio Gomes de Queiroz and B. Charbonnier and Fabio Pavanello and I. O’Connor and S. L. Beux},
journal = {Design, Automation and Test in Europe},
year = {2023},
doi = {10.23919/DATE56975.2023.10137313}
} Acknowledgements
This work was supported in part by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) Discovery Grants programme and by the Fonds de recherche du Québec — Nature et technologies (FRQNT).