What is HS3d?

HS3d is a suite of library functions for use in estimating the steady-state temperature profile of silicon chips. It is based on the HotSpot tool originally produced at the University of Virginia. HS3d features significant improvements over HotSpot, allowing the simulation of multi-layer device stacks, allowing the use of arbtitrary grid resolution, and offering speed increases of over 1000 X for large floorplans. In addition, the user-accessible function library has been expanded greatly, allowing a much simpler workflow integration. HS3d is a freely available C-library suitable for use in research or product development.

Sample HS3d Uses

The HS3d library can be used in many ways, from standalone temperature estimation based on input files, to a more complicated integration with a placement or floorplanning tool to allow a thermal-aware design. The tool has already been used in research, such as Temperature-Aware Voltage Islands Architecting in System-on-Chip Design, to appear in ICCD 2005.

Obtain a copy of HS3d

HS3d has been tested for use on many UNIX-type systems, including Solaris 9, Mac OS X, and Fedora Core 3. It requires the availability of a Basic Linear Algebra Subprogram library, such as the Sun Performance Library, Accelerate Framework (included since Mac OS X 10.3), or the Intel Math Kernel Library or AMD Core Math Library for Linux systems. To obtain a copy of HS3d for your organization, please send an email to the developer at link at cse dot psu dot edu.

Documentation, Support, and FAQ

Documentation for HS3d is included in the tool distribution, and any frequently-encountered questions will be answered below. For more detailed support, contact the developer.