Predicting Future-System Reliability with a Component-Level DRAM Fault Model

We introduce a new fault model for recent and future DRAM systems that uses empirical analysis to derive DRAM internal-component level fault models. This modeling level offers higher fidelity and greater predictive capability than prior models that rely on logical-address based characterization and modeling. We show how to derive the model, overcoming several challenges of using a publicly-available dataset of memory error logs. We then demonstrate the utility of our model by scaling it and analyzing the expected reliability of DDR5, HBM3, and LPDDR5 based systems. In addition to the novelty of the analysis and the model itself, we draw several insights regarding on-die ECC design and tradeoffs and the efficacy of repair/retirement mechanisms.CCS CONCEPTS• Hardware → Hardware reliability; • Computer systems organization → Dependable and fault-tolerant systems and networks.