Architectural considerations for a self-timed decoupled processor

Self-timed processor designs offer several advantages over traditional synchronous designs. Further, when an asynchronous philosophy is incorporated at every stage of the design, the microarchitecture is more closely linked to the basic structures of the self-timed circuits themselves, and the resulting processor is quite simple and elegant. The Fred architecture presented here is an example of such a design approach. The self-timed design philosophy results in a powerful and flexible architecture which exhibits significant savings in design effort and circuit complexity. Some of the architectural constraints discovered in the course of the design have simple yet unconventional solutions, which, in turn, provide additional benefits beyond their immediate application.