Electronic – Is the registry file made from SRAM

alucomputer-architecturecpumicroprocessorreference-materials

I study computer engineering and I read Hennessy's book about Computer Organization where it's described how the microprocessor does pipelining and that the microproceossor has on-chip cache, as much as 8 MB on-chip cache in a modern microprocessor such as AMD's Opteron. Is that on-chip cache made from SRAM or what are the physical characteristics of a modern registry file and its 2 caches, instruction and memory? Is it the same material in the L1, L2 and L3 caches?

Best Answer

They are going to implement it such that it uses the minimal number of transistors possible while still meeting performance targets. For microprocessors, this usually means that, yes, it will be a form of SRAM/latches. I'm being ambiguous because there are so many different ways of implementing latches. The only reason why you would not call SRAM and latches the same thing is that they are optimized for different performance and that subtly affects the transistor layout. But you could design and layout the whole design only using latches for everything.

Also, most logic flows and design in microprocessors use latch based double clocked schemes for performance and timing reasons. So latches are abundant in the cell library.

There are processes available that integrate DRAM with standard logic but these tend not to be used in microprocessors due to cost and yield issues (due to the complexity of additional process steps)

Is it the same material? - yes this is all on the same Si substrate the question should be it is the same cell library. Yes.

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