Reconfigurable FIFO memory circuit for synchronous and asynchronous communication

Abstract

AbstractWe present a new FIFO (first‐in first‐out) architecture for both synchronous and asynchronous communication for high‐speed and low‐power operation. Our FIFO design is reconfigurable and scalable using a separate datapath with an 8T‐Cell SRAM and control circuits, which enables specialization for different application requirements. The datapath uses a two‐phase clock system of nonoverlapping signals such that one signal increments the address pointer, while the other signal activates the memory decoder for data reading and writing. This structure halves the critical path delay and simplifies the timing operations between the memory decoder and address pointer while maintaining robustness against process‐voltage‐temperature (PVT) variations. Our design uses two alternative control circuits to manage separate synchronous and asynchronous operations by generating nonoverlapping control signals that drive the datapath circuit. The empty‐full flag circuitry records only the state of the address pointers' rollover independent of the memory size, and, thus, improves scalability and reconfigurability. Compared to prior works, our design is 5X faster with a 2.3X lower power consumption and has a throughput of 1 Giga‐Word/s. For a 64‐bit word size with a free latency cycle. Additionally, our design functions clocklessly with the synthesizable structure for asynchronous communication that leverages Internet of Things (IoT) and Networks on Chip (NoCs) applications.