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Table 2.2 Summary of relative areas.
Item Size in rbe
1 register bit (rbe)1.0 rbe
1 static RAM bit as used in an on-chip cache0.6 rbe
1 CAM bit as used in a fully associative cache directory2.0 rbe
1 DRAM bit as used in a large DRAM array0.1 rbe
rbe corresponds to:
in feature size, f1 rbe = 675f2
in resolution, l1 rbe = 2700l2
ItemSize in A Units
A corresponds to 1 mm2 with f = 1m.
1A= f2´ 106(f in microns)
1A= 1481 rbe
d87111c01013bcda00bb8640fdff6754.gif
A ''3-ported" register (2 read-1 write, 32 ´ 32b) is (32 + 6) * (32 + 6)
= 1444 rbe
» 1A (= 0.975A)
A 4KB direct mapped cache with 16B lines and 24b tag (directory entry) would have:
Data bits= 4096 ´ 8 = 32,768
Tag bits0092-01.gif
Cache size= 195 + .6[32,768 + 6,144]
= 23,542 rbe
Total= 15.9A

is referenced to a six-transistor static cell with high bandwidtha register bit isolated from its input/output circuitry. A six-transistor static cell with lower bandwidth would use less area and a DRAM-bit cell would use still less. Empirically, they would have the relationship shown in Table 2.2.
Static RAM cells are used to reduce the area of on-chip caches at the expense of bandwidth and access time. In this book, all on-chip storage (cache, buffers, etc.)exclusive of registers themselves is assumed to be static cells unless otherwise noted. Other choices such as "fast" DRAM, etc., can readily be scaled.

 
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