Comparing FPGA vs. custom cmos and the impact on processor microarchitecture

Abstract

As soft processors are increasingly used in diverse applications, there is a need to evolve their microarchitectures in a way that suits the FPGA implementation substrate. This paper compares the delay and area of a comprehensive set of processor building block circuits when implemented on custom CMOS and FPGA substrates. We then use the results of these comparisons to infer how the microarchitecture of soft processors on FPGAs should be different from hard processors on custom CMOS.