Scott Hilker

Design solutions for the Bulldozer 32nm SOI 2-core processor module in an 8-core CPU

AMDs 2-core “Bulldozer” module contains 213 million transistors in an 11-metal layer 32nm HKMG SOI CMOS process and is designed to operate from 0.8 to 1.3V. This new micro-architecture [1] improves performance and frequency while reducing area and power compared to a previous AMD x86–64 CPU in the same process [2]. To achieve these goals, the design reduced the number of FO4 inverter delays/cycle by more than 20%, achieving higher frequencies in the same power envelope even with increased core counts. The 2-core CPU module area (including 2MB L2 cache) is 30.9mm2 (Fig. 4.5.7).