# Slim NoC: A Low-Diameter On-Chip Network Topology for High Energy Efficiency and Scalability

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2010.10683 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2010.10683/

## Key facts

- Cited by 5 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- First posted on arXiv 21 Oct 2020.

## Built on by (most cited first, 5 of 5)

- [Demystifying Chains, Trees, and Graphs of Thoughts](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2401.14295/) (2024)
- [Parallel and Distributed Graph Neural Networks: An In-Depth Concurrency Analysis](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2205.09702/) (2022)
- [GraphMineSuite: Enabling High-Performance and Programmable Graph Mining Algorithms with Set Algebra](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2103.03653/) (2021)
- [Demystifying Higher-Order Graph Neural Networks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2406.12841/) (2024)
- [Hermes: Accelerating Long-Latency Load Requests via Perceptron-Based Off-Chip Load Prediction](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2209.00188/) (2022)

## Abstract (arXiv)

Emerging chips with hundreds and thousands of cores require networks with unprecedented energy/area efficiency and scalability. To address this, we propose Slim NoC (SN): a new on-chip network design that delivers significant improvements in efficiency and scalability compared to the state-of-the-art. The key idea is to use two concepts from graph and number theory, degree-diameter graphs combined with non-prime finite fields, to enable the smallest number of ports for a given core count. SN is inspired by state-of-the-art off-chip topologies; it identifies and distills their advantages for NoC settings while solving several key issues that lead to significant overheads on-chip. SN provides NoC-specific layouts, which further enhance area/energy efficiency. We show how to augment SN with state-of-the-art router microarchitecture schemes such as Elastic Links, to make the network even more scalable and efficient. Our extensive experimental evaluations show that SN outperforms both traditional low-radix topologies (e.g., meshes and tori) and modern high-radix networks (e.g., various Flattened Butterflies) in area, latency, throughput, and static/dynamic power consumption for both synthetic and real workloads. SN provides a promising direction in scalable and energy-efficient NoC topologies.