High Performance Cmos Microprocessor Design

The authors present readers with a compelling, one-stop, advanced system perspective on the intrinsic issues of digital system design. This invaluable reference prepares readers to meet the emerging challenges of the device and circuit issues associated with deep submicron technology. It incorporates future trends with practical, contemporary methodologies.

"Microprocessors are the heart of virtually all computer systems we use today. The level of complexity and the effort needed to design these integrated circuits (IC's) is enormous. I will describe in detail the common computer architectures of some of the highest performance microprocessors being designed today along with features that make each one stand out. Then I will describe a design methodology that enables a fast and reliable development cycle for high performance IC's in general. Background information on circuit design methods that fit into the design methodology along with producing high speed CMOS circuits will be discussed. Finally a case study will be presented which utilized a structured design methodology to successfully design a high performance microprocessor."--Page iii.

Written by the world’s most prominent microprocessor design leaders from industry and academia, this book provides complete coverage of all aspects of complex microprocessor design: technology, power management, clocking, high-performance architecture, design methodologies, memory and I/O design, computer aided design, testing and design for testability. The chapters provide state-of-the-art knowledge while including sufficient tutorial material to bring non-experts up to speed. A useful companion to design engineers working in related areas.

Design of High-Performance CMOS Voltage-Controlled Oscillators presents a phase noise modeling framework for CMOS ring oscillators. The analysis considers both linear and nonlinear operation. It indicates that fast rail-to-rail switching has to be achieved to minimize phase noise. Additionally, in conventional design the flicker noise in the bias circuit can potentially dominate the phase noise at low offset frequencies. Therefore, for narrow bandwidth PLLs, noise up conversion for the bias circuits should be minimized. We define the effective Q factor (Qeff) for ring oscillators and predict its increase for CMOS processes with smaller feature sizes. Our phase noise analysis is validated via simulation and measurement results. The digital switching noise coupled through the power supply and substrate is usually the dominant source of clock jitter. Improving the supply and substrate noise immunity of a PLL is a challenging job in hostile environments such as a microprocessor chip where millions of digital gates are present.

High Speed CMOS Design Styles is written for the graduate-level student or practicing engineer who is primarily interested in circuit design. It is intended to provide practical reference, or `horse-sense', to mechanisms typically described with a more academic slant. This book is organized so that it can be used as a textbook or as a reference book. High Speed CMOS Design Styles provides a survey of design styles in use in industry, specifically in the high speed microprocessor design community. Logic circuit structures, I/O and interface, clocking, and timing schemes are reviewed and described. Characteristics, sensitivities and idiosyncrasies of each are highlighted. High Speed CMOS Design Styles also pulls together and explains contributors to performance variability that are associated with process, applications conditions and design. Rules of thumb and practical references are offered. Each of the general circuit families is then analyzed for its sensitivity and response to this variability. High Speed CMOS Design Styles is an excellent source of ideas and a compilation of observations that highlight how different approaches trade off critical parameters in design and process space.

This work describes in detail the microarchitecture of a high-performance microprocessor, giving an integrated treatment of platform and systems issues relating to the design and implementation of microprocessor-based systems. This book is a reference for individuals building systems using microprocessors and readers looking for significant insights into fundamental design guidelines that transcend the design, implementation, and use of a specific microprocessor. Practitioners, academics, and technical and product managers alike will benefit from this detailed overview of microprocessors, platforms, and systems for years in the future.

Design of High-Performance CMOS Voltage-Controlled Oscillators presents a phase noise modeling framework for CMOS ring oscillators. The analysis considers both linear and nonlinear operation. It indicates that fast rail-to-rail switching has to be achieved to minimize phase noise. Additionally, in conventional design the flicker noise in the bias circuit can potentially dominate the phase noise at low offset frequencies. Therefore, for narrow bandwidth PLLs, noise up conversion for the bias circuits should be minimized. We define the effective Q factor (Qeff) for ring oscillators and predict its increase for CMOS processes with smaller feature sizes. Our phase noise analysis is validated via simulation and measurement results. The digital switching noise coupled through the power supply and substrate is usually the dominant source of clock jitter. Improving the supply and substrate noise immunity of a PLL is a challenging job in hostile environments such as a microprocessor chip where millions of digital gates are present.

Modeling Microprocessor Performance focuses on the development of a design and evaluation tool, named RIPE (Rensselaer Interconnect Performance Estimator). This tool analyzes the impact on wireability, clock frequency, power dissipation, and the reliability of single chip CMOS microprocessors as a function of interconnect, device, circuit, design and architectural parameters. It can accurately predict the overall performance of existing microprocessor systems. For the three major microprocessor architectures, DEC, PowerPC and Intel, the results have shown agreement within 10% on key parameters. The models cover a broad range of issues that relate to the implementation and performance of single chip CMOS microprocessors. The book contains a detailed discussion of the various models and the underlying assumptions based on actual design practices. As such, RIPE and its models provide an insightful tool into single chip microprocessor design and its performance aspects. At the same time, it provides design and process engineers with the capability to model, evaluate, compare and optimize single chip microprocessor systems using advanced technology and design techniques at an early design stage without costly and time consuming implementation. RIPE and its models demonstrate the factors which must be considered when estimating tradeoffs in device and interconnect technology and architecture design on microprocessor performance.

Transactions on HiPEAC aims at the timely dissemination of research contributions in computer architecture and compilation methods for high-performance embedded computer systems. Recognizing the convergence of embedded and general-purpose computer systems, this journal publishes original research on systems targeted at specific computing tasks as well as systems with broad application bases. The scope of the journal therefore covers all aspects of computer architecture, code generation and compiler optimization methods of interest to researchers and practitioners designing future embedded systems. This 4th issue contains 21 papers carefully reviewed and selected out of numerous submissions and is divided in four sections. The first section contains five regular papers. The second section consists of the top four papers from the 4th International Conference on High-Performance Embedded Architectures and Compilers, HiPEAC 2009, held in Paphos, Cyprus, in January 2009. The third section contains a set of six papers providing a snap-shot from the Workshop on Software and Hardware Challenges of Manycore Platforms, SHCMP 2008 held in Beijing, China, in June 2008. The fourth section consists of six papers from the 8th IEEE International Symposium on Systems, Architectures, Modeling and Simulation, SAMOS VIII (2008) held in Samos, Greece, in July 2008.