Introduction

CV32E40P is a 4-stage in-order 32-bit RISC-V processor core. The ISA of CV32E40P has been extended to support multiple additional instructions including hardware loops, post-increment load and store instructions and additional ALU instructions that are not part of the standard RISC-V ISA. Figure 1 shows a block diagram of the core.

Figure 1 Block Diagram of CV32E40P RISC-V Core

License

Copyright 2020 OpenHW Group.

Copyright 2018 ETH Zurich and University of Bologna.

Copyright and related rights are licensed under the Solderpad Hardware License, Version 0.51 (the “License”); you may not use this file except in compliance with the License. You may obtain a copy of the License at http://solderpad.org/licenses/SHL-0.51. Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software, hardware and materials distributed under this License is distributed on an “AS IS” BASIS, WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied. See the License for the specific language governing permissions and limitations under the License.

Bus Interfaces

The Instruction Fetch and Load/Store data bus interfaces are compliant to the OBI (Open Bus Interface) protocol. See https://github.com/openhwgroup/programs/tree/master/TGs/cores-task-group/obi/OBI-v1.2.pdf for details about the protocol. Additional information can be found in the Instruction Fetch and Load-Store-Unit (LSU) chapters of this document.

The Auxiliary Processing Unit bus interface is derived from to the OBI (Open Bus Interface) protocol, see the Auxiliary Processing Unit (APU) chapter of this document.

Standards Compliance

CV32E40P is a standards-compliant 32-bit RISC-V processor. It follows these specifications:

• RISC-V Instruction Set Manual, Volume I: User-Level ISA, Document Version 20191213 (December 13, 2019)

• RISC-V Instruction Set Manual, Volume II: Privileged Architecture, document version 20190608-Base-Ratified (June 8, 2019). CV32E40P implements the Machine ISA version 1.11.

• RISC-V External Debug Support, draft version 0.13.2 (https://github.com/riscv/riscv-debug-spec/tree/4e0bb0fc2d843473db2356623792c6b7603b94d4)

Many features in the RISC-V specification are optional, and CV32E40P can be parameterized to enable or disable some of them.

CV32E40P supports the following base instruction set.

• The RV32I Base Integer Instruction Set, version 2.1

In addition, the following standard instruction set extensions are available.

Table 1 CV32E40P Standard Instruction Set Extensions

Standard Extension	Version	Configurability
C: Standard Extension for Compressed Instructions	2.0	always enabled
M: Standard Extension for Integer Multiplication and Division	2.0	always enabled
Zicount: Performance Counters	2.0	always enabled
Zicsr: Control and Status Register Instructions	2.0	always enabled
Zifencei: Instruction-Fetch Fence	2.0	always enabled
F: Single-Precision Floating-Point using F registers	2.2	optionally enabled with the FPU parameter
PULP_Zfinx: Single-Precision Floating-Point using X registers	1.0	optionally enabled with the PULP_ZFINX parameter (also requires the FPU parameter)

The following custom instruction set extensions are available.

Table 2 CV32E40P Custom Instruction Set Extensions

Custom Extension	Version	Configurability
Xcorev: CORE-V ISA Extensions (excluding cv.elw)	1.0	optionally enabled with the PULP_XPULP parameter
Xpulpcluster: PULP Cluster Extension	1.0	optionally enabled with the PULP_CLUSTER parameter
Xpulpzfinx: PULP Share Integer (X) Registers with Floating Point (F) Register Extension	1.0	optionally enabled with the PULP_ZFINX parameter

Most content of the RISC-V privileged specification is optional. CV32E40P currently supports the following features according to the RISC-V Privileged Specification, version 1.11.

• M-Mode

• All CSRs listed in Control and Status Registers

• Hardware Performance Counters as described in Performance Counters controlled by the NUM_MHPMCOUNTERS parameter

• Trap handling supporting direct mode or vectored mode as described at Exceptions and Interrupts

Synthesis guidelines

The CV32E40P core is fully synthesizable. It has been designed mainly for ASIC designs, but FPGA synthesis is supported as well.

All the files in the rtl and rtl/include folders are synthesizable. The user should first decide whether to use the flip-flop or latch-based register-file ( see Register File). However, the use of the flip-flop-based register-file is the one suggested and used by default as it has been verified. Secondly, the user must provide a clock-gating module that instantiates the clock-gating cells of the target technology. This file must have the same interface and module name of the one provided for simulation-only purposes at bhv/cv32e40p_sim_clock_gate.sv (see Clock Gating Cell).

The constraints/cv32e40p_core.sdc file provides an example of synthesis constraints.

ASIC Synthesis

ASIC synthesis is supported for CV32E40P. The whole design is completely synchronous and uses positive-edge triggered flip-flops, except for the register file, which can be implemented either with latches or with flip-flops. See Register File for more details. The core occupies an area of about 50 kGE when the latch based register file is used. With the FPU, the area increases to about 90 kGE (30 kGE FPU, 10 kGE additional register file). A technology specific implementation of a clock gating cell as described in Clock Gating Cell needs to be provided.

FPGA Synthesis

FPGA synthesis is only supported for CV32E40P when the flip-flop based register file is used as latches are not well supported on FPGAs. The user needs to provide a technology specific implementation of a clock gating cell as described in Clock Gating Cell.

Verification

The verification environment (testbenches, testcases, etc.) for the CV32E40P core can be found at core-v-verif. It is recommended that you start by reviewing the CORE-V Verification Strategy.

In early 2021 the CV32E40P achieved Functional RTL Freeze, meaning that is has been fully verified as per its Verification Plan. Final functional, code and test coverage reports can be found here.

The unofficial start date for the CV32E40P verification effort is 2020-02-27, which is the date the core-v-verif environment “went live”. Between then and RTL Freeze, a total of 47 RTL issues and 38 User Manual issues were identified and resolved 1. A breakdown of the RTL issues is as follows:

Table 3 How RTL Issues Were Found

“Found By”	Count	Note
Simulation	18	See classification below
Inspection	13	Human review of the RTL
Formal Verification	13	This includes both Designer and Verifier use of FV
Lint	2
Unknown	1

A classification of the simulation issues by method used to identify them is informative:

Table 4 Breakdown of Issues found by Simulation

Simulation Method	Count	Note
Directed, self-checking test	10	Many test supplied by Design team and a couple from the Open Source Community at large
Step & Compare	6	Issues directly attributed to S&C against ISS
Constrained-Random	2	Test generated by corev-dv (extension of riscv-dv)

A classification of the issues themselves:

Table 5 Issue Classification

Issue Type	Count	Note
RTL Functional	40	A bug!
RTL coding style	4	Linter issues, removing TODOs, removing `ifdefs, etc.
Non-RTL functional	1	Issue related to behavioral tracer (not part of the core)
Unreproducible	1
Invalid	1

Additional details are available as part of the CV32E40P v1.0.0 Report.

Contents

• Getting Started with CV32E40P discusses the requirements and initial steps to start using CV32E40P.

• Core Integration provides the instantiation template and gives descriptions of the design parameters as well as the input and output ports.

• Pipeline Details described the overal pipeline structure.

• The instruction and data interfaces of CV32E40P are explained in Instruction Fetch and Load-Store-Unit (LSU), respectively.

• The two register-file flavors are described in Register File.

• Auxiliary Processing Unit (APU) describes the Auxiliary Processing Unit (APU).

• Floating Point Unit (FPU) describes the Floating Point Unit (FPU).

• Sleep Unit describes the Sleep unit including the PULP Cluster extension.

• CORE-V Hardware Loop Extensions describes the PULP Hardware Loop extension.

• The control and status registers are explained in Control and Status Registers.

• Performance Counters gives an overview of the performance monitors and event counters available in CV32E40P.

• Exceptions and Interrupts deals with the infrastructure for handling exceptions and interrupts.

• Debug & Trigger gives a brief overview on the debug infrastructure.

• Tracer gives a brief overview of the tracer module.

• CORE-V Instruction Set Extensions describes the custom instruction set extensions.

• Glossary provides definitions of used terminology.

History

CV32E40P started its life as a fork of the OR10N CPU core based on the OpenRISC ISA. Then, under the name of RI5CY, it became a RISC-V core (2016), and it has been maintained by the PULP platform <https://pulp-platform.org> team until February 2020, when it has been contributed to OpenHW Group https://www.openhwgroup.org.

As RI5CY has been used in several projects, a list of all the changes made by OpenHW Group since February 2020 follows:

Memory-Protocol

The Instruction and Data memory interfaces are now compliant with the OBI protocol (see https://github.com/openhwgroup/programs/tree/master/TGs/cores-task-group/obi/OBI-v1.2.pdf). Such memory interface is slightly different from the one used by RI5CY as: the grant signal can now be kept high by the bus even without the core raising a request; and the request signal does not depend anymore on the rvalid signal (no combinatorial dependency). The OBI is easier to be interfaced to the AMBA AXI and AHB protocols and improves timing as it removes rvalid->req dependency. Also, the protocol forces the address stability. Thus, the core can not retract memory requests once issued, nor can it change the issued address (as was the case for the RI5CY instruction memory interface).

RV32F Extensions

The FPU is not instantiated in the core EX stage anymore, and it must be attached to the APU interface. Previously, RI5CY could select with a parameter whether the FPU was instantiated inside the EX stage or via the APU interface.

RV32A Extensions, Security and Memory Protection

CV32E40P core does not support the RV32A (atomic) extensions, the U-mode, and the PMP anymore. Most of the previous RTL descriptions of these features have been kept but not maintained. The RTL code has been partially kept to allow previous users of these features to develop their own by reusing previously developed RI5CY modules.

CSR Address Re-Mapping

CV32E40P is fully compliant with RISC-V. RI5CY used to have custom performance counters 32b wide (not compliant with RISC-V) in the CSR address space {0x7A0, 0x7A1, 0x780-0x79F}. CV32E40P is fully compliant with the RISC-V spec. The custom PULP HWLoop CSRs moved from the 0x7C* to RISC-V user custom read-only 0xCC0-0xCFF address space.

Interrupts

RI5CY used to have a req plus a 5bits ID interrupt interface, supporting up to 32 interrupt requests (only one active at a time), with the priority defined outside in an interrupt controller. CV32E40P is now compliant with the CLINT RISC-V spec, extended with 16 custom interrupts lines called fast, for a total of 19 interrupt lines. They can be all active simultaneously, and priority and per-request interrupt enable bit is controlled by the core CLINT definition.

PULP HWLoop Spec

RI5CY supported two nested HWLoops. Every loop had a minimum of two instructions. The start and end of the loop addresses could be misaligned, and the instructions in the loop body could be of any kind. CV32E40P has a more restricted spec for the HWLoop (see CORE-V Hardware Loop Extensions).

Compliancy, bug fixing, code clean-up, and documentation

The CV32E40P has been verified. It is fully compliant with RISC-V (RI5CY was partially compliant). Many bugs have been fixed, and the RTL code cleaned-up. The documentation has been formatted with reStructuredText and has been developed following at industrial quality level.

References

1. Gautschi, Michael, et al. “Near-Threshold RISC-V Core With DSP Extensions for Scalable IoT Endpoint Devices.” in IEEE Transactions on Very Large Scale Integration (VLSI) Systems, vol. 25, no. 10, pp. 2700-2713, Oct. 2017

2. Schiavone, Pasquale Davide, et al. “Slow and steady wins the race? A comparison of ultra-low-power RISC-V cores for Internet-of-Things applications.” 27th International Symposium on Power and Timing Modeling, Optimization and Simulation (PATMOS 2017)

Contributors

Andreas Traber (*atraber@iis.ee.ethz.ch*)

Michael Gautschi (*gautschi@iis.ee.ethz.ch*)

Pasquale Davide Schiavone (*pschiavo@iis.ee.ethz.ch*)

Arjan Bink (*arjan.bink@silabs.com*)

Paul Zavalney (*paul.zavalney@silabs.com*)

Pascal Gouédo (*pascal.gouedo@dolphin.fr*)

Micrel Lab and Multitherman Lab

University of Bologna, Italy

Integrated Systems Lab

ETH Zürich, Switzerland

1

It is a testament on the quality of the work done by the PULP platform team that it took a team of professonal verification engineers more than 9 months to find all these issues.