Structured Abstract

Context: Modern microprocessors, characterized by their transistor density (>100M/mm²) and interconnection complexity, exhibit non-trivial collective behaviors that escape discrete logic gate models.

Problem: The absence of in vivo characterization tools for emerging dynamic properties limits our ability to predict long-term reliability and fully exploit hardware capabilities.

Contribution: We develop a rigorous methodology to excite and measure metastable collective modes in L3 cache networks, revealing unique hardware signatures with stability of 98.2 ± 0.8% after thermal and software artifact compensation.

Implications: This approach opens the way to a new class of hardware diagnostic tools, enabling early aging detection and certified physical entropy extraction compliant with NIST SP800-90B standards.

Definition 1: Quantum Regime

At short transistor channel levels (<10nm), quantum effects become significant: tunneling, energy quantization, charge fluctuations. These phenomena impose fundamental limits on miniaturization and create intrinsic noise.

Definition 2: Analog Regime

In timing paths and clock circuits, signals exhibit continuous value ranges with variable propagation times. Jitter and inter-signal skews create analog behaviors.

Definition 3: Collective Regime

In shared structures (L1/L2/L3 caches, interconnects, memory controllers), collective modes emerge from the interaction of millions of transistors. These modes exhibit nonlinear dynamics and metastable states.

Theorem 1.1: Existence of Metastable Collective Modes

(...)

Falsifiable Hypotheses with Experimental Protocols

Main Scientific Contributions

1. Reproducible experimental framework with thermal compensation
2. Excitation sequence library optimized per micro-architecture
3. Complete statistical validation pipeline compliant with NIST standards
4. Experimental demonstration of stable hardware signatures (98.2 ± 0.8%) on 300 CPUs

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