Dedicated processor for partial differential equation solver

A hardware solver for Delta Psi =f( Psi ), by the finite-difference method in 3D is presented. The general architecture is given: several identical processors run in a parallel mode in a PC-type environment. Each processor is a specific circuit (ASIC). The arithmetic unit has been integrated in a CMOS 2 mu m technology. Using this circuit to simulate potential distribution in silicon devices shows a drastic reduction of the computation time, 1.7 mu s per discretization node against 900 mu s by a software approach.<<ETX>>