llvm / llvm/circt

[HWMemSimImpl] Single-entry Combinational Memories Emit Mux

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Description

For some FIRRTL designs which include single-entry combinational memories, we emit some code which may be sub-optimal for ASIC flows.

Consider:
```
circuit Qux:
module Qux:
input clock: Clock
input addr: UInt<1>
input r: {en: UInt<1>, flip data: UInt<32>, addr: UInt<1>}
input w: {en: UInt<1>, data: UInt<32>, addr: UInt<1>, mask: UInt<1>}

mem m :
data-type => UInt<32>
depth => 1
reader => r
writer => w
read-latency => 0
write-latency => 1
read-under-write => undefined

m.r.clk <= clock
m.r.en <= r.en
m.r.addr <= r.addr
r.data <= m.r.data

m.w.clk <= clock
m.w.en <= w.en
m.w.addr <= w.addr
m.w.data <= w.data
m.w.mask <= w.mask
```

This currently emits a combinational memory that is, for Cadence/Synopsys, forcing a mux to exist through the use of `infer_mux_override`/`map_to_mux`:

```verilog
module m_combMem(
input R0_addr,
R0_en,
R0_clk,
W0_addr,
W0_en,
W0_clk,
input [31:0] W0_data,
output [31:0] R0_data);

reg [31:0] Memory[0:0];
wire [31:0] _GEN;
/* synopsys infer_mux_override */
assign _GEN = Memory[R0_addr] /* cadence map_to_mux */;
always @(posedge W0_clk) begin
if (W0_en)
Memory[W0_addr] <= W0_data;
end // always @(posedge)
assign R0_data = R0_en ? _GEN : 32'bx;
endmodule
```

However, this is really a single-entry memory and we can trivially elide the mux. Change this to not emit a mux if the memory is size-1.

This type of code is coming from Chisel's `Queue` which always emits a FIRRTL memory and never opts to use a register, even for extremely small queues.

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First steps

  1. Read the whole issue, then the project's contributing guide.
  2. Comment on the issue to say you are picking it up — it saves two people doing the same work.
  3. Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
  4. Open a pull request that references the issue number.

Research direction

Inspect the FIRRTL memory-lowering path responsible for the shown m_combMem output, using infer_mux_override and map_to_mux as search terms. Compare the generated code for the single-entry example with the current output, and verify that size-1 memories no longer emit the mux-related annotations or lookup behavior.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
cpp
Domain
compilers
Issue type
Bug
Difficulty
3/5
Estimated time
1-2 days
Activity status
Stale
Clarity
Mostly clear
Newbie friendliness
45/100

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