3D MPSoC with On-Chip Cache Support -- Design and Exploitation

The increasing density of transistors in Integrated Circuits (ICs) has enabled the development of highly integrated Systems-on-Chip (SoCs) and, more recently, Multiprocessor Systems-on-Chip (MPSoCs). To address scalability challenges in communication and memory performance, three-dimensional (3D) Network-on-Chip (NoC) architectures have emerged, offering improvements in communication latency and throughput. However, memory system efficiency remains a critical bottleneck in NoC-based designs. This work proposes the design and experimental exploration of 3D MPSoCs with on-chip cache support by employing distinct communication infrastructures for inter-processor and memory interactions. Specifically, packet-based NoCs are adopted for inter-processor communication, while a crossbar-based infrastructure supports a cache coherence hierarchy for memory access. A two-layer system architecture is introduced, combining a Uniform Memory Access (UMA) model within clusters and a No Remote Memory Access (NORMA) model between clusters, aiming to balance scalability and coherence requirements. Emerging memory technologies such as PCRAM and MRAM are explored to optimize performance, energy consumption, and area usage. Experimental evaluations are conducted using the Gem5 simulator, targeting a model based on the ARM Versatile Express platform. The outcomes of this study aim to enhance MPSoC scalability while meeting the stringent demands of memory-centric applications.