Benchmarks and Metrics for in-Memory Compute

PREP Research Associate
CHIPS Funded Project. 

This position is part of the National Institute of Standards (NIST) Professional Research Experience (PREP) program. NIST recognizes that its research staff may wish to collaborate with researchers at academic institutions on specific projects of mutual interest and thus requires that such institutions be the recipients of a PREP award. The PREP program requires staff from a wide range of backgrounds to work on scientific research in many areas. Employees in this position will perform technical work that underpins the scientific research of the collaboration. 

Research Title:

Development of Application Benchmarks and Device Metrics for in-Memory Compute

The work will entail: 

Development of metrics and application benchmarks for Daffodil, a new memory device characterization platform being developed at NIST. Daffodil is a versatile test vehicle capable of accommodating all types of two-terminal memory devices for rapid characterization. We have already demonstrated its applicability to spin transfer torque magneto-resistive random-access memory (STT-MRAM) technology. While the initial version of Daffodil provided a proof-of-concept demonstration, we are continuing to develop Daffodil into a plug-and-play, open-source analog memory characterization and benchmarking platform that offers a turnkey product suitable for both academic and industrial settings. The candidate will develop metrics and application benchmarks in close collaboration with the engineers working on the hardware platform and with feedback from many industrial and academic groups. The project will involve machine learning and machine learning training, physical device modeling, programming and FPGA programming. The position is based in NIST, Boulder but will also involve travel and collaboration between NIST Boulder and NIST Gaithersburg (2-4 trips per year).

Key responsibilities will include but are not limited to:

• Evaluation and synthesis of existing benchmarking tools
• Testing different machine learning training methods for application benchmarks
• Evaluation and implementation of memory device test methods
• Developing physical device models for emerging memory technologies (e.g. ReRAM and MRAM devices)

Qualifications

• A PhD in Physics, Electrical Engineering, Materials Science, Computer Science, Applied Mathematics, or a related field.
• Familiarity with memory devices and CMOS fabrication.
• Ability to collaborate with many groups, synthesize data and present it in a compelling way.
• Familiarity with multiple scripting languages. Familiarity with Spice, Verilog and/or Cadence a plus.
• Ability to develop prototypes of tools needed to analyze data.
• Strong oral and written communication skills.

Privacy Act Statement

Authority:  15 U.S.C. § 278g-1(e)(1) and (e)(3) and 15 U.S.C. § 272(b) and (c)

Purpose:  The National Institute for Standards and Technology (NIST) hosts the  Professional Research Experience Program (PREP) which is designed to provide valuable laboratory experience and financial assistance to undergraduates, post-bachelor’s degree holders, graduate students, master’s degree holders, postdocs, and faculty.  

PREP is a 5-year cooperative agreement between NIST laboratories and participating PREP Universities to establish a collaborative research relationship between NIST and U.S. institutions of higher education in the following disciplines including (but may not be limited to) biochemistry, biological sciences, chemistry, computer science, engineering, electronics, materials science, mathematics, nanoscale science, neutron science, physical science, physics, and statistics. This collection of information is needed to facilitate the administrative functions of the PREP Program.

Routine Uses:  NIST will use the information collected to perform the requisite reviews of the applications to determine eligibility, and to meet programmatic requirements. Disclosure of this information is also subject to all the published routine uses as identified in the Privacy Act System of Records Notices:  NIST-1: NIST Associates. 

Disclosure:  Furnishing this information is voluntary. When you submit the form, you are indicating your voluntary consent for NIST to use of the information you submit for the purpose stated.