et-Ying Yu

Mechanical packaging, power, and cooling design for the IBM z13

The system-level packaging of the IBM z13™ supports the implementation of a new drawer-based Central Processor Complex (CPC). Departing from previous IBM z Systems™ designs, the introduction of distributed land-grid-array (LGA) attached single-chip modules (SCMs) required new mechanical, power, and cooling designs to address specified performance requirements and to provide enhanced reliability, availability, and serviceability (RAS) attributes. Building upon the designs created for the IBM zEnterprise® BC12 (zBC12), new CPC drawer and frame mechanical designs were created to significantly increase overall packaging density. Similar to its predecessor, the IBM zEnterprise EC12 (zEC12), the z13 utilizes water-cooling of the processors, but in contrast to the single input and return flow used to cool the multi-chip module (MCM) in the zEC12, the z13 accomplishes its processor cooling using a flexible hose internal manifold design that provides parallel input and return fluid flow to each SCM. The use of flexible hose also enabled SCM field replacement, new to high-end IBM z Systems. A new internal cooling loop unit and an updated external (building-chilled) modular water-conditioning unit were designed utilizing customized water delivery manifold systems to feed the common CPC drawer design. Revised power delivery and service control structures were also created to address the distributed nature of the z13 system design.

High-speed electrical testing of multichip ceramic modules

This paper reports on the successful application of very-high-performance robotics in the electrical testing of multichip modules using only two probes, breaking with the old traditional array of probes as the primary test method. Complete production line tools include two high-speed Hummingbird® probing robots and precise x-y tables to carry them and a fast, accurate opens-shorts test. To ensure fast probe placement without damaging the part under test requires real-time control hardware and software to operate with extreme precision, flexibility, and programmability to accommodate any part. Finally, because a module can have nearly 100,000 points to be probed, computing an optimal path for the two probes to take for full testing of a part can greatly reduce test time.

Facilitating observational study for comparative effectiveness research

Comparative effectiveness research (CER) compares the benefits and harms of alternative methods to prevent, diagnose, treat, and monitor a clinical condition or to improve the delivery of care for a particular group of patients. With the advent of clinical information systems, e.g., the electronic medical record, observational studies play an increasingly important role in generating clinical evidence for CER. From an information technology perspective, we identify four challenges associated with CER: 1) compliance with recommended procedures in epidemiology, 2) efficient discovery of potentially interesting hypotheses, 3) correct use of the appropriate statistical methods in hypothesis testing, and 4) the appropriate presentation and interpretation of results. To address these challenges, we propose a new system On-demand Comparative Effectiveness Research Accelerator (OCERA). The new system can facilitate observational studies for CER and assist clinical researchers in effectively and efficiently conducting high-quality CER studies.