Invited Presentation

This paper describes a ten-year-long technical and social experiment in our department to build a laboratory that designs and fabricates microelectronic systems in support of research in computer architecture. This experiment has been fairly successful by several measures: We have built and demonstrated a number of systems, some of significant size and complexity, spanning a fairly wide range of approaches and applications. We have validated the laboratory's original premise, demonstrating economies of scale by sharing a system-building facility over multiple projects. Most importantly, we have fielded experimental systems on a long-term, maintainable basis. Our Microelectronic Systems Laboratory (MSL) may serve as a useful model for others who want to develop system-building capability in a university setting. III describe the model in three parts: I. An outline of the context, purpose, organization, and working style of the lab, along with a brief chronology and description of the experimental systems we have built. 2. A history of the longest-running and most ambitious project we have so far undertaken, building several generations of Pixel-Planes graphics systems. 3. A summary of what we believe we've done right, what we got wrong, what we could have done better, and few remarks about where we may go from here. 1 Laboratory Model The MSL exists within the Computer Science department at UNC, so a few words abou