A micropipelined ARM

Abstract

A fully asynchronous implementation of the ARM microprocessor has been developed in order to investigate the potential of asynchronous logic for low-power appli-cations. The work demonstrates the feasibility of complex asynchronous design and shows that the cost and perform-ance characteristics are similar to clocked designs. AMULET1 is the first attempt at applying asynchronous techniques to a design of this complexity and as such there is much room for improvement. This paper introduces the design approach and organisation of the chip; it then cov-ers the lessons learned from the first design and points towards future strategies for its enhancement and the likely benefits which will accrue from mature asynchro-nous technology. 1