Comparative Implementation of PicoSoC System-on-Chip in X-Fab 180 nm CMOS Technology

Abstract

This paper presents the physical implementation of the PicoSoC System-on-Chip (SoC) using commercial EDA tools, to use it as a comparison source for future advances in open-source EDA tools for digital implementation flows. The PICORV32 is a simple and versatile microcontroller core that can be used for different applications (e.g., Internet of Things). The whole process entails logical and physical synthesis, design goals aspects, and reports by tools under different working conditions. The Logical and Physical synthesis of the PicoSoC for the X-Fab 180 nm node technology, presented in this work, relies on using the Cadence EDA tools. The microcontroller core was fully synthesized with and without pads, resulting in a SoC that, including the pads, presents an estimated energy consumption of about 695.3 pJ per operation under nominal conditions.