Distributed memory interface synthesis for Network-on-Chips with 3D-stacked DRAMs

Stacking DRAMs on processing cores by Through-Silicon Vias (TSVs) provides abundant bandwidth and enables a distributed memory interface design. To achieve the best balance in performance and cost in an application-specific system, the distributed memory interface should be tailored for the target applications. In this paper, we propose the first distributed memory interface synthesis framework for application-specific Network-on-Chips (NoCs) with 3D-stacked DRAMs. To maximize the performance of a selected hardware configuration, the proposed framework co-synthesizes the hardware configuration of the distributed memory interface, and the software configuration, e.g. task mapping and data assignment. Since TSVs have adverse impact on chip costs and yields, the goal of the framework is minimizing the number of TSVs provided that the user-defined performance constraint is met.