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@INPROCEEDINGS{Dube:1050456,
author = {Dube, Aradhana and Manea, Paul and Gibertini, Paolo and
Covi, Erika and Strachan, John Paul},
title = {{A}nalog {S}oftmax with {W}ide {I}nput {C}urrent {R}ange
for {I}n-{M}emory {C}omputing},
publisher = {IEEE},
reportid = {FZJ-2026-00226},
pages = {1-5},
year = {2025},
comment = {2025 IEEE International Symposium on Circuits and Systems
(ISCAS) : [Proceedings] - IEEE, 2025. - ISBN
979-8-3503-5683-0 - doi:10.1109/ISCAS56072.2025.11043251},
booktitle = {2025 IEEE International Symposium on
Circuits and Systems (ISCAS) :
[Proceedings] - IEEE, 2025. - ISBN
979-8-3503-5683-0 -
doi:10.1109/ISCAS56072.2025.11043251},
abstract = {The Softmax activation function plays a pivotalrole in both
the attention mechanism of Transformers andin the final
layer of neural networks performing classification.The
Softmax function outputs probabilities by normalizing
theinput values, emphasizing differences among them to
highlightthe largest values. In digital implementations, the
complexityof softmax grows linearly with the number of
inputs. Incontrast, analog implementations enable parallel
computationswith lower latency. In this work, we demonstrate
that thisapproach achieves a more efficient linear scaling
of latencyas vector size increases logarithmically. This
analog softmaxcircuits are implemented in TSMC 28 nm PDK
technology,capable of driving up to 128 inputs and producing
an ana-log current output spanning three orders of
magnitude. Thestudy examines the circuit’s power
consumption, latency, anderror, emphasizing its efficiency
compared to the alternativeapproach of converting outputs to
digital signals via ADCsand performing the softmax
calculation digitally. By reducingreliance on these
power-intensive operations, this work aims tosignificantly
enhance energy efficiency in in-memory computingsystems.},
month = {May},
date = {2025-05-25},
organization = {2025 IEEE International Symposium on
Circuits and Systems (ISCAS), London
(United Kingdom), 25 May 2025 - 28 May
2025},
cin = {PGI-14},
cid = {I:(DE-Juel1)PGI-14-20210412},
pnm = {5234 - Emerging NC Architectures (POF4-523)},
pid = {G:(DE-HGF)POF4-5234},
typ = {PUB:(DE-HGF)8 / PUB:(DE-HGF)7},
doi = {10.1109/ISCAS56072.2025.11043251},
url = {https://juser.fz-juelich.de/record/1050456},
}