Overview of the Architecture, Circuit Design, and Physical Implementation of a First-Generation Cell Processor

Autor: M. Bolliger, James D. Warnock, Charles Ray Johns, Paul Marlan Harvey, S. Weitzel, D. Cox, Daniel Lawrence Stasiak, Atsushi Kameyama, David William Boerstler, Harm Peter Hofstee, Masakazu Suzuoki, D. Pham, J. Pille, Y. Masubuchi, Rajat Chaudhry, J. Keaty, P. Harvey, D. Wendel, T. Aipperspach, Osamu Takahashi, S. Posluszny, Kazuaki Yazawa, Mydung Pham, J. Kahle, Mack W. Riley
Rok vydání: 2006
Předmět:
Zdroj: IEEE Journal of Solid-State Circuits. 41:179-196
ISSN: 0018-9200
DOI: 10.1109/jssc.2005.859896
Popis: This paper reviews the design challenges that current and future processors must face, with stringent power limits, high-frequency targets, and the continuing system integration trends. This paper then describes the architecture, circuit design, and physical implementation of a first-generation Cell processor and the design techniques used to overcome the above challenges. A Cell processor consists of a 64-bit Power Architecture processor coupled with multiple synergistic processors, a flexible IO interface, and a memory interface controller that supports multiple operating systems including Linux. This multi-core SoC, implemented in 90-nm SOI technology, achieved a high clock rate by maximizing custom circuit design while maintaining reasonable complexity through design modularity and reuse.
Databáze: OpenAIRE