When Considering Processor PPA, Don't Forget the Instruction Memory
November 12, 2020
The area of any part of a design contributes both to the silicon cost and to the power consumption. A simplistic following of the “A” in a processor IP vendor’s PPA numbers can be misleading. A processor is never in isolation but is part of a subsystem additionally including instruction memory, data memory, and peripherals. In most cases, instruction memory will be dominant and the processor area much less important.
The size of the instruction memory will be influenced by the target instruction set, the compiler and the compiler switches used. In the case of RISC-V, the choice of optional standard extensions and custom extensions can greatly influence the codesize.
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