Seahawk Power-optimized implementation of High Performance Quad-core Cortex-A15 Processor

Transcription

1 Seahawk Power-optimized implementation of High Performance Quad-core Cortex-A15 Processor PD Marketing ARM 1

2 Introduction to Cortex-A15 & Seahawk ARM Cortex-A15 is a high performance engine for superphones, tablets, laptops, servers, enterprise etc Offers great Performance and Power scalability Multicore 1-4 cores SMP big.little with Cortex-A7 & CCI-400 SoC Designer s consistent challenge Find optimal balance Seahawk of Performance MP4 Hard Macro and Power Highly Control Power power Efficient, consumption High-performance while maximizing Fmax Quad-core and Cortex-A15 Get to market Implementation FAST on TSMC 28HPM Process Enabling Fastest TTM with Best in Class PPA Announced April 2012, Available for licensing now! 2

3 Challenges of High End SoC Design SoC getting more complex Uni-Core - dual-core - quad-core 1GHz -1.5GHz - 2GHz and beyond 40nm - 28nm - 20nm Vendors want Risk mitigation and design simplification Highly competitive markets Massive time to market challenges Focus on differentiation and cost Fastest TTM solution, Time to focus on their key capabilities Pressure to hit PPA sweet spot Race for F max increasingly market driven GHz How to reach a high F max on low power process? Integrated design with highly optimized and assured PPA 3

4 Example of the Growing Complexity Smaller geometries dramatically impact design complexity Comparison of 40nm and 28nm Trend to continue with 20nm and beyond Time and Expertise required to overcome this challenge 40nm nm # of DRC rules # of Timing Corners # of Lib Cells x1.5 x2.4 x2.7 4

5 Achieving Best in Class Implementations Start with Best in Class IP & Tools Invest Implementation Expertise and Several Man Years of Effort OR Use ARM Hard Macro ARM RTL Process Selection RTL Config Synthesis HARD MACRO ARM POP Optimized EDA Tools Floor Plan & Power Grid Place and Route Sign Off ARM expertise gains a crucial PPA advantage at each design stage ARM Hard Macros use our expertise and IP to deliver Best in Class implementations with Best in Class PPA 5

6 ARM Hard Macro Benefits Ready to Use Fastest Time to Market Fine Tuned & Assured PPA Risk Mitigation Reduced Costs Opening New opportunities 6

7 Harnessing Foundry Process Flexibility Process flexibility is a double-edged sword Rich ARM Physical IP to pick from Various Voltage Thresholds (Vt s) Multiple channel lengths Opportunity Challenge Choices dramatically affect PPA Frequency & Power trade-offs through Vt v/s Channel length choices Multilateral combinations are best It needs lots of skill and time to get the combination right! Seahawk is a result of the most appropriate choices and fine tuned combinations for an optimized PPA 7

8 Several Design Approaches Multi-corner, Multi-mode Use multiple libraries throughout the design to close all setup and hold criterion simultaneously Backfilling Use high performance library to meet frequency target and then backfill with low leakage library to meet power criteria Single Library Use a single library to target all criteria and add additional libraries in later steps for swapping and resizing to meet all criteria Seahawk meets several criteria across a range of operating conditions 8

9 Leakage Vt & Channel Length Selection 10 Leakage vs. Performance lvt 1 rvt ~4.3X 0.1 ~28% Frequency Changing Vt to increase frequency can increase leakage dramatically. 9

10 Leakage Vt & Channel Length Selection 10 Leakage vs. Performance Carefully selected Vt and Channel lengths yield Optimal Results for Seahawk lvt 1 rvt ~1/2 0.1 ~7% Frequency Changing Channel Length to decrease leakage results in only a small frequency drop 10

11 Seahawk Power Supply Requirements Seahawk includes sophisticated power management Essential to delivering optimal performance/power balance Seahawk Power grid supports typical frequency at worst case process and operating conditions Power switch method enables robust power cycling Seahawk includes support for multiple DVFS operating points 11

12 Summary ARM Hard Macros offer Ready to Use, Best in Class implementations of Cortex-A processors on leading edge geometries ARM Hard Macros enable Fastest Time to Market Seahawk is a highly optimized Quad Cortex-A15 hard macro Capitalizing on ARM expertise to solve implementation challenges posed by increased SoC complexity and newer geometries Delivers unmatched power efficiency with high performance Ideal for wide array of applications from high-performance tablets to power-efficient enterprise devices 12

13 13 Thank you