The IIS Chip Gallery
Baikonur (2019)
Additional pictures below, click to see larger versions
by
| Application | Pulp |
| Technology | 22 |
| Manufacturer | GF |
| Type | Research Project |
| Package | QFN56 |
| Dimensions | 3000μm x 3000μm |
| Gates | 80 MGE |
| Voltage | 0.8 V |
| Clock | 1000 (typical) MHz |
Baikonur continues our direct collaboration with Globalfoundries for evaluating different library options of the GF 22FDX process using a realistic benchmark. For this purpose, there are two 64-bit RISC-V based Ariane cores with the latest updates and fixes (now with FPUs). One core has been optimized for high performance (1.0GHz worst case) and the other one for extreme low power operation (250Mhz worst case operation) using different standard cell libraries and optimization corners. Several design iterations have been made with the guidance of experts from Globalfoundries to utilize different libraries with various operating conditions that also include body biasing. The design also includes 1.25 MByte of SRAM memory to be used by the Ariane cores. This is an improved version of Kosmodrom that fixes issues related to a third-party IP.
As with Kosmodrom, the design also includes additional payload that contains new designs. There is a many core architecture called Bowtruckle (another Harry Potter reference). In Baiknour, the Bowtruckle has 3 clusters, each containing 8 Snitch cores. Snitch cores are small 32bit RISC-V (RV32IMAFD) cores, that feature a very small integer core, but a very powerful vectorizable 64bit FPU and extensions for stream processing. Each cluster has 128 kByte of TCDM memory and we expect it to run at 1GHz in typical conditions, (in theory) delivering 96 billion single-precision floating operations per second. There is also a standalone Snitch Governor without an FPU for control tasks, as well as a new serial interface, a DMA with AXI to AXI capability and changes to the debug access.
The name of the chip continues the space related naming conventions used with Ariane series of chips. Picking off where we left at Kosmodrom, this chip is named after the famous launch site for Soyuz rockets in Baikonur, in present day Kazakhstan. We also have a history of using the wrong names for Ariane based projects. Similar to us using stand-in (Lego) Saturn-V rockets in twitter messages on Ariane, no Ariane rocket was launched from Baikonur.