PA**3 ARRAYS FOR SUPERCOMPUTERS.

To use computer-aided techniques to realize special-purpose inner- product computers based on merged arithmetic principle, a novel mask programmable VLSI architecture called PA**3 arrays, programmable array of array adders, is presented. The greatest advantage of a PA**3 macrocell is that it can be exploited in general-purpose applications as well. The mask programmable PA**3 cell is made up of logic, storage, and computing elements. From the general-purpose point of view, the PA**3 arrays can be termed as arithmetic-storage-logic arrays. Hardware structural integration of control, communication, and computation is achieved in PA**3 arrays. This efficiently and effectively unifies both general-purpose and special-purpose VLSI architectures with tremendous advantages over the conventional approaches.