Optimal control of bit erasure in stochastic random access memory

Abstract

Energy costs of information processing are growing exponentially. Bit erasure is a key problem in this energy-information nexus, and a number of seminal relationships have been deduced regarding the relationship between thermodynamic costs and memory storage. To continue making progress in the modern era, however, requires confronting thermodynamic costs in realistic physical systems which operate away from equilibrium. Here, we explore the thermodynamic costs of bit erasure in a complementary metal oxide semiconductor model of two types of random access memory. We find dynamic random access memory dissipates the least amount of energy when operated in the quasistatic limit, where errors are also minimized. By contrast, static random access memory is most efficiently operated in finite time due to the energy required to maintain the state of the bit. We demonstrate a numerically robust optimization scheme using mean field theory and automatic differentiation, finding optimal protocols compatible with electrical engineering insights. These results provide a framework for operating realistic circuits in thermodynamically advantageous ways.

12 pages, 9 figures; updated figures and expanded discussion

References in corpus (18)

• Stochastic thermodynamics, fluctuation theorems, and molecular machines
• Minimal Energy Cost for Thermodynamic Information Processing: Measurement and Information Erasure
• Three detailed fluctuation theorems
• Thermodynamic metrics and optimal paths
• Finite-time Landauer principle
• Optimal finite-time erasure of a classical bit
• Information and thermodynamics: fast and precise approach to Landauer's bound in an underdamped micro-mechanical oscillator
• Stochastic Thermodynamics of Non-Linear Electronic Circuits: A Realistic Framework for Computing around kT
• Optimal finite-time bit erasure under full control
• Principles of Low Dissipation Computing from a Stochastic Circuit Model
• Reliability and entropy production in non-equilibrium electronic memories
• Refining Landauer's Stack: Balancing Error and Dissipation When Erasing Information
• Counting statistics and microreversibility in stochastic models of transistors
• Stochastic thermodynamic bounds on logical circuit operation
• Reliability and operation cost of underdamped memories during cyclic erasures
• Noise-dissipation relation for nonlinear electronic circuits
• Experimental nonequilibrium memory erasure beyond Landauer's bound
• Thermodynamic Constraints in Dynamic Random-Access Memory Cells: Experimental Verification of Energy Efficiency Limits in Information Erasure